Undergrad Marriage

Today was wonderful for 3 reasons. First, my Gender class was canceled for no apparent reason. The professor said that no one had posted on the forum so we will “postpone” class until next week. We never post until the last minute, so I really don’t understand what happened. I suspect that the prof was the one who wasn’t prepared or maybe had a pressing deadline. I’m not going to overthink it because I randomly got a day off in the middle of the week. It feels like a snow day!

Except it is actually really warm and nice outside for November which brings me to the second reason that today was wonderful. I love this comfortable Fall weather. I wish it would stay like this for the rest of winter. The time change has really bummed me out this year for some reason. Usually, I barely notice but lately it really bothers me that it gets dark by 6pm. So, these sunshiney days that only require a light jacket or sweater are making me feel better about the whole situation.

The third reason is that I had lunch with one of my former undergrad assistants. She’s such a nice person, and a very bright student. It was really fun to catch up with her, and I realized that I do want to be friends with some of my (former) students. I think it is tricky when they are in your class, but after the grades are submitted, why can’t we be friends? I had a student send me a friend request on facebook, and I feel a little ambivalent about that. I ultimately decided that facebook has to be thought of as a public space and it is not just for my personal friends from college and high school anymore. Now, I am friends with both my professors and my students, so I need to adjust my online presence to recognize this. I certainly will not send friend requests to my students, but I will accept them if they request me (and I like them).

Anyway, back to my lunch with my former assistant. She told me that her boyfriend proposed to her this past summer and they will be getting married in June (she graduates in May). Now, maybe I’m getting soft in my old age, but I was genuinely happy and excited for her. Usually, I think that it is a mistake for people to get married really young, and right out of college seems very young to me. But she seems like a very reasonable and mature person, so I didn’t even feel a little judgmental about her rush into marriage and postponing her own education and career plans for him. In fact, the only judgment that I had was marveling at my own lack of judgment. I think that in general most people would be better off waiting until they are older and more settled  in who they are and what they are doing in life before getting married, but there are certainly exceptions to this. I think that she is one.  And she was just so darn happy that I couldn’t help but get caught up in it.

It does make me chuckle a bit to myself that my students are surpassing me in adultness. Oh, well. For me, 30 is the best age to get married and I don’t plan on tackling grown up-ness until then.