In pursuit of a few good photos for a feature in an upcoming edition of Suffolk Living magazine, I spent several cold, damp hours in a windy parking lot behind Lane Stadium in Blacksburg on Saturday.

It was the first time in 20 years that I had been back to Virginia Tech, the university where I spent four years perfecting the art of skipping class in the early ‘80s, and I admit to having experienced a few reservations as I headed west with my wife on Friday night.

How much would the campus have changed during the time I was gone? How would it feel to be the old guy amongst all those college students? How could I show Annette the things and places that had played such a big part of my life then without having her wonder if I was trying to relive the past? How on Earth could we fit in with folks who could afford to make college football such a central and expensive part of their lives every fall?

For the most part, the answers to those questions pretty much shook out exactly as you would expect them to have. Virginia Tech’s campus (and Blacksburg, in general) has grown by leaps and bounds, but there are still many of the old landmarks and touchstones of my past — the drill field, the river stone, my old dorm.

And walking around campus, meeting over tea with the freshman son of my best friend from those college days, seeing all of those young faces — well, it made me feel old, that’s what. Joining the tailgate party with a group of people my own age — the Edwards family from Smithfield — removed the generation gap, and their hospitality removed any discomfort that either Annette or I experienced. Before we left them, in fact, we both made sure to give our new friends hugs and thanks.

We’ll never make tailgating a regular part of our lives, but we both understand how they can enjoy doing so, and we left with a solid appreciation of the skill they bring to the effort.

As for reliving the past, I think it would have been impossible to return after all these years without being subjected to a flood of memories. After all, many of the pivotal events of my early adult life took place in Blacksburg between 1982 and 1986.

As we drove around my old college town, I pointed out places where my friends and I once hung out, the place where my best friend met the woman who would become his wife, the buildings where I’d lived and attended classes. I headed for the river where my friends and I had spent so many spring afternoons.

And I realized, with the force of complete certainty, that there is no way I’d trade a moment of my life with Annette for a single shred of that old life. There were some good times, but the best memories of my life have been those shared with my wife.

And one of those memories will be of standing under a skimpy tent in Blacksburg in short sleeves on a blustery October afternoon, watching how easily she made new friends. It was a good trip, and I look forward to sharing it with you in photos in November’s edition of Suffolk Living magazine.