Our daughter, Sierra, returned home for a visit this weekend. Her first time back from college, and the first we’ve seen of her, since we parted ways in Bozeman back in August. The first we’ve seen of her in person anyway. There have been numerous sightings of her via Facebook. Pictures of her hiking…pictures of her mountain biking…pictures of her white water rafting…pictures of her rock climbing. In essence, a pictorial montage of the poor girl trying to mask her homesickness.

To the casual observer the massive smile on that mask is fairly effective in portraying someone thoroughly enjoying college life, but a father is not a casual observer. A father see’s right through that massive smile. A fathers sees a girl desperately missing home. A father doesn’t see sweat and river water he sees sorrowful tears. A father…ah who am I trying to kid, the girl is having the time of her life…and she has good grades.

As long as those two can coincide I have no problems. The life of a college students is such a grueling affair who can blame them for letting off a little steam now and then with all that the Big Sky state has to offer. It’s a good thing I went to college in Aberdeen, South Dakota where the two biggest distractions from studying were watching it snow and shoveling snow.

I managed to squeeze a little fun out of my time in college (a little more than some a little less than someone…I’m sure) but good grades and good times did not coexist in a congenial manner for me. Fortunately for Sierra a relatively even split of genetics has made it possible for her to balance the two ends of this college equation. A relentless drive for academic success from me and an eye for all things fun, funny, and frivolous from her mother (historical accuracy is always at the mercy of the writer).

That’s why my wife stalked and wooed me 20 years ago in college. She needed someone serious and studious to balance out her penchant for partying so her children had half a chance of being productive citizens and resist the urge to become pixy dust spreaders on the Tilt-A-Whirl. Hard to believe it’s been 20 years since she set her diabolical plan into action.

Dawn and I went back to our old alma mater a few weeks ago for homecoming. She had an alumni gathering for the track and cross-country team to attend and I went along as her arm candy…as usual. It was fun to see some familiar faces that shared our time and place at Northern State. Twenty years of living had exerted itself to varying degrees on all of us. Some more fortunate than others.

Some hadn’t changed much at all and some you had to squint and use your imagination a little more extensively to see who you saw 20 years ago. I have a good imagination but it does have its limits. It was enjoyable to visit and catch up with all the goings on in some of their lives…some not so much. Some were able to jar your memory right quick on why you were never really chums 20 years ago.

If only our appearance was as resilient to the passage of time as our personality.