there's no place like home.

So the game outcome was the only slightly less-than-great thing about being back in Champaign this Homecoming weekend. It was a balmy 88 degrees and we were roasting in the upper deck. The girls did great and had fun cheering for the Illini. They love going there, and I love that they do.

I also had the pleasure of the company of my niece, Lizzie, who is thinking about going there in two years to study engineering. Yes, she is both beautiful and smart! Considering I have been gently nudging her in that direction since she was born, no one could be happier!

We made our annual photos by the Alma Mater statue, and she is as beautiful as ever!

The Quad trees are turning red and gold, and it felt like the very best days spent on campus as a student. We snuck into classrooms at Gregory Hall, and the girls sat at desks in some of the rooms that I learned about journalism, philosophy and history. Greg Hall smelled exactly the same, and it was like a warm, comfortable blanket. Ever reliable for the way it always was and likely ever will be.

I spent Saturday night at the DI, in their fantastic new building on Green Street. It's not where I worked while I was there (20 years ago now, YIKES!) but it still feels like coming home.

And that's the key. The audience at dinner ranged in age from 93! to current students. And though not tied by years spent working together, we all enjoyed the same experience of working for the paper. We learned the sense of camaraderie and teamwork was the very same in 1935 as it was in 1985. It pretty much is the same in 2008. The connective thread is amazing, so that even if you don't know each other, you kind of know each other, if that makes sense.

I was so happy to be there, sharing the experience of my "home away from home" with three young women I love, and lots of friends that I love too.

I can't wait to go back!