Every so often, I see wedding and engagement pictures of friends, or get sent his-and-her accounts of proposals, and when the couple are both virginia grads, I’m jealous. I think about how these couples will return for reunions both ecstatic to be back at their alma maters, both reminescing the good ol’ days at Virginia, both nostalgic about first dates on the downtown mall, 21st birthdays on the corner, romantic strolls around the lawn, dancing the virginia reel at the balls …
The proposal stories of scavenger hunts in the pavilion gardens, of popping the question in front of the Rotunda, of rings hidden in front of particular lawn rooms … all of these make me wish that I had me a Virginia gentleman, too.
Am I unusual in how attached I am to Virginia? So much so that I want a UVA boy too? I had the best four years of my life at Virginia, and I want someone who would understand why. But more than anything, I want someone who can share the joy with me of going to Charlottesville year-after-year-after-year, someone who would know the special meaning of 26 East, someone who would dress our kids in orange and blue, and someone who would know to get down on one knee in a seersucker suit on the terrace of the Rotunda on a beautiful spring day with the scent of blossoms all around us.
*sigh* oh well. too late now :)
Remembering the purple shadows of the lawn, the majesty of the colonnades, and the dream of your youth, you may say in reverence and thankfulness:
“I have worn the honors of Honor, I graduated from Virginia”
- The Honor Men by James Hay, Jr.