this past weekend was my 5 year reunion for the graduating class of my undergraduate college. i. feel. old. but amazingly, i still feel really young. like, i have so much more to do.
the weekend started out on a high with my bff Tiffany flying into town. and from the moment she arrived, we were off like a shot, driving around, just like in undergrad, expect Tiff lives in the south now and doesn’t drive as fast or reckless as she used to. i still love her though.
Tiffany, looking excited
we started off at an Asian café we used to frequent in undergrad and got to talking about what’s been going on in our lives… me, nothing much except a Master’s; her, she might be dating someone new ;) then we planned out the rest of our weekend, knowing full well that we might not exactly stick to the plan, and i wouldn’t have it any other way.
the next day, we were up early to move the car. seriously, i love living in a downtown area (although any other city's Downtown would laugh at Baltimore's Downtown), but i don’t drive. this weekend, i got confirmation that i should never get a car because finding parking in an area near clubs, bars, and restaurants was a real headache. all weekend.
thus began our weekend of gorging. first stop, Chipotle. there aren’t any where Tiffany lives and it was a real sacrifice. later, we got ready for the main event: the Reunion Happy Hour and Crab Feast at our alma mater. when we arrived, the thin crowd surprised us. this was a reunion for all classes, mostly for 5, 10, 15, 20, etc. years, but their may have just been 20 people at the happy hour. we didn’t care, there was good wine to be had. we talked it up with some of our favorite professors, filling our cups with encouragement and Chardonnay. and, slowly, we made our way up to the dining hall for the crabs. and, let me tell you, they were excellent! as a DC native, i know my crabs, but i haven’t had some that good in years!
Crabbies!
we continued Gorge Weekend by having brunch the next day at another old favorite, Papermoon Diner. it’s different than when we went to college, and by “different” i mean “more expensive”. but, the food is still pretty damn good; even though they messed up my order, i didn’t realize it until i was halfway done. that good. then, The Drive. we did was we do best, which is hit the road. it felt really good to be zipping down the road, even though we couldn’t sync music properly, so we had to suffer through the radio. as a result, i know every word to every Drake, Chris Brown, and Weezy song that’s come out in the past two months.
random beach in Prince Frederick
after sitting with some friends and family in Southern Maryland , we were treated to a dinner by a friend of the family at Saphron Restaurant, where we had some decent wine and crab dip and i had some killer Vietnamese catfish and grits. literally, the grits were plain and tasted better than any spiced up variety i’ve gotten anywhere else. we met the owner and her son, who runs the kitchen with no formal training, other than being a Marine. i live for days like this, where meaningful conversations happen on accident, but have the potential to change your life, or at least how you view it.
Sunday, which was supposed to be relaxed and random, as Tiffany was getting ready to return to the south that night, was really frenetic. brunch started out okay. Tiffany got to meet Samantha, who works in the lab across from me and has sort of been Tiffany II; Samantha and i will easily spend a whole day together, when we really just intended to go to the grocery store. we all met at Cheesecake Factory, which is good because it’s on Samantha’s preferred list and there isn’t one in Alabama
MLK Memorial, with tons of people
but the weekend ended on a cool note. we made it back just in time for Tiffany to connect with another old friend before dropping me off and heading back to the airport. i was sad to see her pull off, after we both gave each other a quick pep talk about life and love, which interestingly enough was in reverse order… she needed love advice, i needed life advice, i headed back to my apartment and drifted off to sleep, wondering about when that road trip might happen.
