Old Times

A few weeks ago I was going through an old photo album. I don’t know why. I guess I was tidying up my front bedroom and saw an old photo album and started flipping through it. A picture of my college suite-mate and her boyfriend fell out. I haven’t seen her or heard about her since we graduated and I went to Facebook and tried to find her. I couldn’t remember if she married the guy she was dating in college or what his last name was and tried to search her maiden name but came up blank. Then two days ago I got a friend request from her. Freaky! Because of Facebook, we have reestablished contact and we are now catching up.

She wrote something funny in her email to me and that was that I “sounded so grown up” with what I was doing now. The phrase struck me as odd because when I went to college I felt grown up and thought that I had developed a fair sense of maturity when I left home after high school. I suppose even if I felt mature, I guess I didn’t act mature when we were all starting out as freshmen. I do know that the four of us did some pretty crazy things. They were actually rather mild compared to some of the people I know. But I suppose in retrospect they weren’t the most mature actions. I felt gown up living on my own for the first time in my life. Granted I was in a dorm with three other women, but I was responsible for my own actions and making sure I got up on time and made it to class. I thought I was doing pretty well.

It’s funny looking back 30-35 years to when things were carefree. I didn’t have many responsibilities, certainly not the type I have today, or many worries although back then they sure seemed pretty arduous. Life was just starting out for my suite-mates and me. We learned so much during our time together. There were great adventures – or at least in our mind they were adventurous. That’s what college or at least the time after high school, is all about. It’s a time to spread our wings and be on our own and learn to make our own decisions. I wish everyone who is graduating this month the best. May you learn much and grow much, and make your positive mark on society with whatever you decide to be.