The Nostalgia Trip

Thursday, July 4, 2013 – The Nostalgia Trip

Freshman year (1968)

Get out the bellbottoms, beads and tie-dyed shirts – I’m on my way back to 1968, to start my freshman year in college again.  Well, that’s what it seems like.  You see, in a little over 24 hours, I’ll set foot on the campus of the University of Wisconsin in Madison for the first time in over 40 years.  The trip I’ve fantasized about for decades is finally becoming a reality:  I’m going to spend a week in Madison.  Of course, the trip won’t consist entirely of roaming around campus and reminiscing.  Elliott and I will be participating in a study program organized by the university’s Institute for Jewish Studies.  The focus of this summer’s program is Jewish Rebels and Dissidents, which is fitting, since the university was a hotbed of radical student political activity during my four undergraduate years (1968-1972).  

Junior year (1970)

Along the lake path

But first, there’s the packing to attend to.  We’ve already spent the better part of the day on this activity and we’re not quite finished yet.  Every time I face this task, I think that it would be so much easier just to stay home and pretend we were on vacation.  But somehow, I keep making more travel plans.  In our household, I’ve always been the one who does the planning and preparation for our trips.  After so many years of practice, I’ve gotten quite good at this.  

Status check:  Laundry is done.  Newspaper and mail delivery are suspended.  Banks and credit card companies are notified.  Timers are set.  Research on weather, transportation, attractions, and restaurants is completed.  Vitamins and medications are counted out and bagged.  The mystery white cream in the unlabeled travel size container has been examined – is it facial moisturizer, night cream, hair conditioner?  I rubbed some onto the back of my hand and sniffed.  I still wasn’t sure, so into the trash it went.  

Elliott is temporarily leaving behind his current project, i.e. dismantling the rest of our bathroom.  In the process, he uncovered some turquoise floral wallpaper that was fashionable around my freshman year in college.  He’s also been spackling and sanding.  But he’s excited about the upcoming trip, and he’s fully prepared to hear me exclaim, “It looks just the same!” and “It looks so different!” at least a hundred times a day.