William and the Ivy League

David went to Princeton and learned enough to get into medical school. William went to Princeton (for the weekend) and learned to blow raspberries.

Yes, we're back from our trip to David's alma mater for his college singing group's 60th anniversary celebration. The Tigertones were having a weekend-long celebration, and William and I tagged along to get our first taste of Princeton--and to hear David sing with some of his Tigertone buddies.

And wow, it's hard to top Princeton in the fall. The campus was gorgeous, and I walked around gawking at everything. As usual, I took a ton of pictures: David in front of his old dorm, David in front of the sign for his residential college, David and William in the coffee shop in the student center, and so on. When David was off in rehearsals for the alumni concert, which took place on Sunday, William was my sole model, even though he was asleep in his stroller for most of the photos.

Here, we have William, decked out in Princeton gear and taking a snooze in front of Blair Arch, one of the Tigertones' favorite places to gather and sing.

















I remarked to David that Princeton just felt so collegiate, which may sound like a weird remark to make about, you know, a college. But it did (just like my own Rhodes does). It was nice to just wander around campus, taking in the sights, grabbing a quick snack in the student center, and trying on sweatshirts in the bookstore. We bought a few Princeton items for me and William. It was pretty chilly, and we decided that William really needed a hat.















Who knows where the young Mr. Wyckoff will eventually matriculate. Maybe he'll follow me off to Rhodes, maybe he'll be a Tigertone at Princeton one day, or maybe he'll blaze a completely new path somewhere else. But I just hope that we can provide for him to attend college wherever he wants. I know that David and I both were so fortunate to have the college experiences that we did--and we owe our parents a lot for giving us those opportunities. So I want to be able to help William go to his own dream school one day, too. But er, it would be really, really helpful if he got a big scholarship, too. (Think it's too early to start those SAT prep courses?)

It was especially nice to see a part of David's life that I've only heard stories about. For years, I've listened to his Tigertones CDs, seen the pictures, heard him tell funny stories about them. I have even met a handful of them, including the ones who attended our wedding. But there's something special about hearing them sing together in person at Princeton.



Now, I'm especially looking forward to going to Memphis next week to attend my own college reunion at my own Gothic-architecture college. And of course, I'm looking forward to introducing William to many of my own friends, like Loretta, Natalie, Jessica, Emoke, Charlene and so on.




By the way, here's the whole family at the Tigertone's 60th reunion banquet on Saturday night. Even William got to attend the banquet, although he went for the more casual attire than his parents did. One of the other Tigertones' wives carried him around the room for awhile and showed him off. I think he enjoyed the attention, little social guy.