Parents' Weekend at 15th Alley

Trafton B.

May 4, 2010 - 3:56 PM

This is a little after the fact, as most of my posts seem to be. Sad to say but blogging takes a back seat to school work most of the time, and this has probably been the most work intensive quarter of my college career (so far). But this past weekend, all five of the roommates welcomed our parents into our home, and the funny thing is that everyone came for different reasons. It was a jam-packed few days in Eugene; let me give you the run down.

To being, my parents just decided they wanted to come up for their routine twice annual visit to Eugene, and they marked the weekend of May 1st because it was the only weekend of the spring that both my parents and my aunt and uncle from Portland had free. So there's the first piece of the puzzle.

One roommate, Brian, happened to be running the Eugene Half-Marathon on Sunday, May 2nd, so his parents made the trip up to watch him run - or cross the finish line at least - as well as celebrate his belated 21st birthday. Steven's parents already planned on driving down for the Oregon Spring Football Game. Cam's parents came down to see him throw at the Oregon Relays, one of the better-known Oregon Track & Field events of the year. Unfortunately, he wasn't cleared to throw because he's still sick. For a refresher, check out my previous post: Hayward Field & Knight Arena. Regardless, all four of Steven and Cam's parents are UO Alumni, so they really need any reason for visiting their alma mater. And finally, Ross' parents had no reason whatsoever for driving up, but upon hearing they would be the only holdouts, it's wasn't too difficult to persuade them.

We've never had all of our parents here at the same time, and what better time than now. The five of us are parting ways at the end of the year. Cam is moving in with Track & Field teammates. Brian is moving in with fellow ROTC cadets. Steven, Ross and I are moving in to a new house with our friends Winston and Kevin, so while our parents were meeting each other for the first time it also felt like we were celebrating the end of an era, so to speak. It's sad to say goodbye, but we'll all look fondly back on the two years we've lived at the blue house on 15th Alley and Ferry Street, but change is a good thing. Without change, nostalgia would have no place and parents' weekend wouldn't have been so sweet.

Saturday, my family walked around the Farmer's Market in the morning. Picked out Mother's Day gifts, looked at some sweet wicker chairs for my aunt and uncle's front porch and also found some food for later. Then we headed to Autzen Stadium where we met up with Ross and Steven's families for the Spring Game.

Oddly enough, the only time my parents had been to Autzen Stadium before last Saturday was back when I moved into the residence halls at the beginning of freshman year. Somehow we were able to sneak into the stadium as we noticed an official-looking gentleman entering a key code to open a gate near the west entrance. Little did we know, though, we were entering the athlete's tunnel that leads directly to the field. Not bad for our second complete day in Eugene. I thought they might appreciate seeing Autzen with the Oregon Football faithful in the crowd as well. Plus, our ticket to get in was three cans of food per person. When you think about it we were able to clean out of cabinets, get into Autzen for free (again), and make a donation to Food for Lane County all in one fell swoop.
After the game, and after we let our parents return to their hotels to freshen up (ie - catch mid-afternoon nap) we invited everyone to our place for the barbeque. Hot links, burgers and bratwursts from the Saturday Market were on the grill and the parents brought appetizers, salad and dessert. Gotta love mom's carrot cake. As the sun began to set, our friends slowly showed up to meet our folks and make fun of the mannerisms shared between generations. All in all it turned out to be a really, really fun night.

On Sunday, my family and I headed to PK Park to watch the Duck's baseball team play Washington State. We walked around campus for a while too, taking in the sunshine and catching the tail end of the marathon.

Like I said, it was a fantastic weekend. Thanks, parents. Come back soon.