I Heart BYU

I can't believe I'm writing this. After 27 years of moaning and groaning about being stuck in Utah, stuck at BYU, stuck in Provo, etc., I have to admit that I really love it here. How did this happen? Maybe I suffered some psychological trauma and I only think I love it here. Maybe I'll come to my senses some day and wonder how I could have possibly been so deluded. But I think the worst might be true--I love BYU.

How did this happen, you might well ask? Well, I'll tell you (of course you knew I was leading up to this all along!).

Currently I'm taking Statistics 221 in the evenings. I go to class two nights a week in the JKB (Sweetie's old building before they completely gutted it and changed it beyond recognition--in a good way). Two other evenings I go to a lab in the TMCB. So tonight I went to my Open Lab where a very nice TA who is young enough to be my son answered my final few questions about the homework to the point where I could submit it and earn 100% (Yay Me!). On my way to the lab I dropped Drummer Boy off at International Cinema to meet a couple of friends to see a political documentary. I had about 45 minutes to kill, so I headed over to the JFSB (Sweetie's new building--pictured above) to study in the gorgeous courtyard.

Now, I feel very proprietary and protective about the JFSB. Sweetie helped design it, and the archways you see in the picture above were actually designed at my very own kitchen table. I sat at a little table (either the 2nd or 3rd from the right in the picture), called Em on my cell phone and chatted for awhile, and then studied for my upcoming test. It was overcast, breezy, and perfectly lovely. It definitely felt like Fall was on its way. Then I walked over to the SWKT to pick up Drummer Boy.

You see, I'm also very fond of the SWKT. Sweetie ran International Cinema for over six years, most of which time the films were shown in that very building. Don't even get me started about the Varsity Theatre years. Oh, the stories I could tell. But I digress. We used to have private showings of IC films so Sweetie could preview them and make sure they were fit for public consumption. The kids would run around, write on the chalk board, pretend to give talks at the podium, visit the projection room, and run up and down the aisles until they were exhausted. Not during the films, of course, but afterwards when we were finished. Elvira read the subtitles to "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" when she was about seven. I was so proud of her!

On our way home, I could see the lights on in the football stadium. They were probably getting ready for tomorrow's big game. Lots of students were walking across campus on their way to the big Fall Fest in the WSC (used to be the ELWC, Wilk, etc.). Did I mention that Fall was in the air?

It was lovely. And I realized that while I was spending year after year wishing I was somewhere else (sometimes anywhere else), my family and I had become a part of campus. And it had definitely become a part of me. Drummer Boy is applying to Yale, Stanford, Washington University, and BYU this year. I'm so proud of him, and he has a very good shot at each one of those great schools. But I can't help but hope that he chooses BYU. And maybe he'll be smarter than I was and let it seep into his veins without a fight.