Happy Reunions

It was 40 years ago this week that TigerBlog graduated from the University of Pennsylvania.

He even has a diploma to prove it. Somewhere. He's pretty sure he knows where it is, on the bottom of a bin in his closet. 

Perhaps ironically, or tellingly, or whatever the right word is, hovering over his hidden diploma in the same closet would be an army of orange and black. 

Last weekend was his 40th reunion. It was a lot of fun.

How does TB know this? It's because his roommate his senior year told him it was. 

It's not like TB was there. He's never gone to a Penn reunion. That's not to say that he didn't have a great college experience, because he did. 

It's just that, unlike most people, TigerBlog has spent most of those 40 years since graduation as part of his own school's rival. It's been a fun perspective, to say the least. 

As former Ford Family Director of Athletics Gary Walters used to tell him, he has: "a Penn diploma and a Princeton education."

And as he says, he knows where that diploma is. 

As part of the Class of 1985's 40th at Penn, an online Reunion book was created. Each graduate as invited to fill out a form that included name, major, current occupation, current place of residence, who your friends were and a segment called "my journey." There were also other boxes, like "when not in class you could find me ..." and "favorite memories." 

Of course, most of TB's favorite memories of Penn involve games in which the Quakers lost to Princeton, but he left that out.  

The book is pretty interesting, with its opportunity to see where all of the people are 40 years later. One of the more interesting parts for TB is how few people he either knew or even remembered, something he contrasted laughingly with how many Princetonians he knows. 

Oh, and you could also post pictures of yourself, your Penn friends, your family, whatever you like. Interestingly, TigerBlog is wearing Princeton gear in all of his photos. 

While TigerBlog has never been to a Penn reunion, he has been to many Princeton Reunions. The annual tradition begins again tomorrow, as more than 30,000 people are expected to flood to campus. 

Hopefully the people are the only ones flooding and not the weather. 

You know what, though? Even if the weather is rainy, it won't stop the alums from coming back and having a great time. It never has in the past. 

Princeton Reunions are unique. When TB spoke to Charlie about Penn's reunion, he said about 300-400 of their classmates attended (out of a graduating class of around 2,000). What percentage of the Princeton Class of 1985 will be back for its 40th? 

It will be way higher than 15 percent, TB would think.

And the numbers don't begin to describe the scene. For one, there are the Reunion jackets. They are different for each class, but they are all a cacophony of orange and black, in some of the most creative ways imaginable. 

If Penn has something similar, nobody ever offered one to TB.

Then there is the scene, the mass of humanity that goes throughout the campus, from tent to tent, with "hellos" and "hugs" and "heys!!!!!" every few yards. It just bounces from one scene of joy to another. 

If you're into jubo photos, Reunions is the place to be. 

It starts tomorrow. Among the highlights will be the P-Rade Saturday at 2, which is TB's favorite part of being there, and the fireworks at the end. 

More than any of that, though, there is the whole idea of what Reunions is all about. Once you graduate, you go on very different paths, or "journeys," as the Penn 40th Reunion book calls it. 

As TB went through the book, he took note of those journeys — occupationally, familial and geographical. According to the book, there are Penn alums from TB's class in more than 240 different cities, all around the world. 

The same is true at Princeton, whether you're coming back for your fifth or 60th.

And yet, for this weekend each year, they're all back where it all started, to revisit the friends and places and experiences that did so much to shape them and point them each to a different direction. 

It's such a special event, and Princeton does it better than anywhere else. 

Maybe that's because it really is the best damn place of all.