It was odd to say the least. Here I was, standing on the very campus which at one time seemed like a foreign place. A place that was the extreme opposite of everything I became used to - big city, bright lights, diversity, lots of people, around-the-clock service, and yes, a concrete jungle. Cazenovia, New York is none of the previously stated. Yet, it was there I spent four years of my undergraduate life in college.
Despite it's extreme opposition to my comfort, Cazenovia is still a place I so dearly hold close in my heart. It was there I met my tag team partner, or for the non-DP devotees, my wife. It was there I met one-third of my best man trio. It was there I defied doctor's prognostications and played collegiate baseball. It was there I learned and garnered so many of the skills and values I use professionally. And it was there I had some amazing memories.
My wife coined the phrase, "Big kids in a small college town" for Cazenovia, and that perfectly describes it all. For those who attended this small college in central New York, Cazenovia College provided a weird comradeship among its students. A weird bond that ties us all together. So you can imagine what it was like when a few of us who shared in this small town and partnered for those very memories met up again for the wedding of one of our own in that very small town.
It was weird. Seeing faces that you haven't seen in so long. Seeing those very faces in a place that you haven't seen in so long. Yet, familiar faces, in a familiar town, making everything seem like time never happened. Again, it's weird to describe.
For one night, we all sat down and ate dinner, and nothing was awkward. While the evidence of time passed was clearly seen in our faces, our apparel, and our demeanor, and for the guys, our hairlines, things felt just like they used to be. Just like they've always been. We ate, danced, and consumed much higher quality adult beverages than we used to - much higher. And things felt even weirder when we took a stroll through campus. That once odd and strange environment when I walked on as a freshman now feeling so familiar and flush with random memories.
It was good to see everyone doing well as we all move on in this race called life. Each of us, in different cities, different places, with different responsibilities and different goals in our own lives. However, for one night, we were able to reunite and return to the old stomping grounds. Now adults, it was a chance to once again be those very "big kids in a small college town" and it was an awesome, awesome time. Most of all, it was very much reassuring that unfamiliarity will never be a description in regards to Cazenovia, NY, and will never be an aspect between us as we move forward.