The Weekend At the College Turned Out Like We Planned

Friday at noon Norman and Susan gathered, and we cranked up the Hyundai and headed North, for Gainesville.

Norman is an alumni director of his fraternity, ZBT (Zionist Bankers' Trust), and Susan was attending HER sorority's 50th anniversary celebration at UF. So it worked out well for a car pool up the Turnpike and I-75.

It's amazing how short a long car trip seems with lively conversation. Wifey and Susan caught up, and shared tales about being married to two of the greatest guys in Miami. It's their shared cross to bear.

Norman and I talked of ships and shoes and sealing wax...

We arrived at the AEPHi house, and strolled around, seeing D2's old friends, like Carly, who was lovely and chipper as ever. D2 and Carly and 8 other girls plan to go to the Keys for Spring Break, and I threatened to go stalk them from the water. Ha! As if! I would surely stalk them by land...

We dropped Susan off at the aging Paramount Hotel, for her weekend of fun with old friends. Norman pointed out that fraternity get togethers always include spouses; sorority outings tend to purposefully EXCLUDE the men. Hmmm....

Norman joined us all for the welcome dinner, at a place just North of Downtown Gainesville called the "Warehouse." The place gets its name because it used to be a warehouse. Gainesville is so cutting edge...

Norman and I got some much needed adult beverages, and watched the girls and their families, while playing Jewish Geography. Sure enough, an old neighbor, Warren, is now Norman's stepdaughter's college counselor at a local private school...

We left, and D2's roommate Ali's mom Sharon walked back to the hotel with us. We ran into D2 and Catherine and Cath's parents, and all headed to Maud's for coffee.

Then, Sharon, my kind of woman (she's from Long Island, like I am, and loves to party) said she wanted another drink, but Wifey doesn't drink, so we could just head back and leave her, but then she twisted my arm and we found ourselves at a bar...

Sharon has a remarkable hobby: she fosters newborn infants for the first 6 months of their life! She showed us pictures of some of "her" babies , now growing children. Wifey was amazed: what about the sleep deprivation, trips to pediatricians, etc? We're SO over having babies around. No, Sharon enjoys it, and has a lot of love to share with these babies of alcoholics, coke heads, criminals, etc... We were WAY impressed...

Saturday, Wifey and D2 and I drove out West of town, and found a NY style deli. It was pretty good, especially by North Florida standards. We made it back to the AEPHi House for a barbecue, and entertainment by a guitarist named Max who is D2's boyfriend Josh's best friend.

Later, we found ourselves on a huge sectional, with several of the girls, watching "Modern Family."

It took me back to my days in Building 22 at the U. Girls would come and go, and trade observations about people and life -- and they're ALL in their prime, and getting educated, and heading towards their lives.

When Dr. Barry and I were roommates, we used to say our on campus apartment was like an intellectual sit com -- folks would drop by, offer witty comment, and then leave. It was an exquisite time, and D2 is living it now.

Saturday night, we fetched Josh, and headed to a local restaurant for dinner. Afterwards, D2 came back to our hotel with us and spent the night. Ah...to steal Dan Fogelberg's line: "Just for a moment we were back at school..." Or, in our case, young parents again...

We had a great brunch Downtown Sunday, and then headed back to the house for a farewell with D2. The good news is we get to see her in less than 2 weeks...

We fetched Susan, and headed back south. Again, the trip went fast.

As we pulled near our house, we saw a circle of food trucks gathered in the large lot of a local Catholic retreat complex. Wifey and I headed back there, and bought some barbecus from a local Persian family. It was some of the most delicious barbecue ever!

So it was a fitting end to a fine weekend. I thanked D1 for her excellent house and dog sitting job.

Ah...the things I think are knowledge sometimes I DO understand...