Last week, I attended a full-day, week-long course at the University of Minnesota called “Pain Mechanisms: From Molecules to Treatment.” As the name implies, it was an academic endeavor focusing on pain. One feature was a gross anatomy lab. In small groups, we (the participants) got to touch, hold, and investigate a human cadaver brain and spinal cord. It was a great experience to see the structures of the brain up close and in three dimensions. One thing that struck me was the diminutive size of the spinal cord; it’s scarcely thicker than a pencil.

I’d never before seen nor touched cadaver tissue. In retrospect, I was surprisingly analytical about the entire experience. I was caught up in the moment; how often does one get to see an optic nerve or feel the texture of the cerebral cortex? I didn’t think of the sample as human; I didn’t imagine about the life the person lived; I didn’t consider that I was holding in my hands what was once the essence of a human. The brain is the seat of consciousness and sentience; all thoughts, memories, and emotions lie within it. I gave this thought afterwards, but in the moment I was entirely scientific.

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I skipped the last day of the course so that I could visit Terre Haute. Well… that’s not quite accurate. I couldn’t care less about Terre Haute. I went down there to visit my Brothers at Pike. I chose last weekend instead of graduation weekend so that I would be able to see more of my friends; most underclassmen leave for the summer long before the graduation ceremony. I had the chance to see two of my four little brothers (Vince and Wojo), but Tyler was running a triathlon in New York and Willis was (obviously) not around.

It’s hard to believe that I left one year ago. The house is beginning to feel more foreign; as people leave and are replaced with people I don’t know, reality diverges from my memory. I had the chance to talk with several of the freshmen, and it seems like they’re a great group of guys. Still, everything served as a reminder that my years of school are in the past.

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On Wednesday night, I was playing poker with friends at Kyle Gossman’s house. He had invited several of the interns from his company over to join in the event. The conversation eventually turned to where we had gone or were going to school. Upon hearing that Kyle, Tom, and I had all gone to Rose-Hulman, one of the interns mentioned that he had a friend who had transferred from Rose to his school, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. It turned out to be none other than Cody Ebberson, one of my Brothers in Pike! The intern, Marshall(?), was also a Pike. It turns out that Ebbo is working for Microsoft in the MapPoint group and will probably be in Minnesota sometime in June. Small world, indeed.

I wonder if I have ever been the subject of similar conversation?