But this year was a little different-and not just because of the insanely warm weather we had. The stands and the field were packed with alums of different ages, possibly more so because of how nice it was outside. The weather was actually a little unnerving-it felt so much more like the middle of September than a New England November. Homecoming, in previous years, always meant being bundled up in sweaters while sipping hot chocolate in the stands. I was in flip-flops and a long-sleeved shirt, and I wasn't even cold. It made the entire game feel a little surreal.
I think what really made Homecoming different this year was that I finally began to realize the importance for alumni of coming back to Amherst. My parents didn't go to college here, so I've never had any of their Homecomings to go to, and I've never really quite understood why so many alums came back. What, exactly, are they trying to relive? What are they searching for other than reconnecting with old classmates? Is coming back to Amherst just a way of trying to deny that their college years are over?
I didn't go to a football-oriented high school. No one ever went to any of our football games, and barely half the school would show up for our Homecoming game. It didn't help that we didn't have a home field so our "Homecoming" really just meant a football game played somewhere in Brooklyn.
Maybe that's why it was harder for me to understand the concept of Homecoming, why when every other year Amherst plays against Williams the stands are packed with middle-aged parents and their children, or grandparents with their grandchildren, all decked out in Amherst sweatshirts and baseball caps.
I wonder what ties us to Amherst, what memories will stick out when I think about my four years here when I'm older. Will it be the long hours and all-nighters pulled to write 10-page papers, or will it be the long hours spent in your friend's room talking about what happened on Saturday night? Will it be the professors who've made you think in new ways, or the different people you've met in your classes? And how, exactly, is this different from any other college experience? I'm not saying that I'm not going to have fond memories of my time at Amherst, but I wonder sometimes what makes my experience here unique to Amherst.
But last weekend, as I walked around campus and noticed the large number of strollers, of young kids and their parents, I think I began to understand why so many alumni make the effort to come back. It's the father explaining football to his six-year old son in the stands, or the father with his bouncing daughter on his shoulders at the rugby game. And it's the mother pointing out the dorms she used to live in to her daughter. It's not, I realize, completely about loving Amherst itself and everything that it offers-although that's a huge part of it. There's no denying that some of the major reasons why I love going to school here are the amazing professors, the campus, the community and the people.
But I think what ties us most to Amherst is simply the fact that we've grown here, that we've spent some of our most formative years here. And what Amherst is helps shape whom we become, which is maybe why so many parents like bringing their children here. That sounds incredibly sappy, but maybe it's true. I realized that I like thinking that one day my children will also go through the same things-cheering for Amherst against Williams, listening to lectures in Johnson Chapel and living in Moore or Val.
Which means that-maybe 15 years from now-I'll probably be the one pushing a stroller around campus during Homecoming.