My Everyday Adventures: It is Later Than You Think

The other day I was driving and I put in this CD. I didn’t look at what it was, so when I heard the first song it was a total surprise. The song first came out in September 2007; the first fall of my college career. This song brought me back to crazy nights of dancing in HU’s mall area at midnight, long conversations on top of the baseball dugouts, walking to church every Sunday with friends, sleepovers, movies, 3 a.m. runs to IHop, sneaking into College Park Church late at night to play Bloody Murder with the gang. The song transplanted me back to my 18 year old self. Back when Jan and I danced to the Jackson5 on Friday nights, bonfires at Mark’s house, sitting in Walmart with Chelsey and Christen for hours reading magazines so we didn’t have to buy them, dressing up crazy, weekend road trips to anywhere, skipping Western Civ to get coffee, riding in the back of pick up trucks through corn fields. It was only 3 ½ years ago, but a lot can happen in that amount of time that changes a lot. This song that brought me back to that epic freshman year? Soulja Boy. Yep; probably the dirtiest song ever, but one that takes me back to a magnificent time of my life. I still know the entire Soulja Boy dance that I learned that year too, in case you were wondering.

As I drove listening to this song and remembering, suddenly I wanted to go back so badly. I longed to be back to that year. Things seemed simpler, college was just beginning and our cares were not high. I thought while the song was playing just how much things have changed, and I almost became bitter. I saw how relationships changed, things evolve, life changes as the years go on, and I was mad. How did some things that shaped my college life back then get neglected now?

I see my sister running around campus the same way I did when I was 18. Real life isn’t real life. It is a mix of late night chats, running from room to room, pranking your friends, and taking pictures at every moment. Being a senior in college does not offer those kinds of luxuries and I felt slightly jealous of Jessie and this new experience that she was beginning to live out. My experience is almost over. I am so blessed to have had probably the best freshman year in the history of Huntington University, and I told Jessie to make sure to enjoy every second, because soon it is over. It went by in a flash.

I am so glad I heard this song last week because it made me realize just how little time I have left in college. There have been some rough times sandwiched between that amazing beginning of college and my senior year now, and before that moment in my car listening to Soulja Boy I didn’t really care. But suddenly, I did care. I wanted to go back and relive it all. I longed for all of my best friends to go back to the way we were then.

And then it hit me. Suddenly I saw my life as it is today, in this moment. My best friends from that year are still my best friends today. We are not the same people as we were when we were 18. That innocence is gone for the most part, and instead of skipping classes most of us have to go to bed early so we can get up early to go to internships or student teaching. Instead of reading Cosmo after Cosmo we are reading Bridal Magazines. Our relationships with each other and with the other people in our lives have changed since then, as would be expected. But one thing hasn’t; we are all still here together. And our past that we have shared these years have only enhanced our present now. And I realized that although that freshman year together when we all first met was precious, I really would not choose to go back, because where we are now is somewhere only friends who have endured it all together for the last few years could be.

Now I am sitting in my apartment feeling that same way I felt back then; extremely happy. There is no particular reason for it, except that last week when I listened to Soulja Boy I knew that I had limited time here living with these people and I am going to appreciate every last second of it. I am afraid I have took for granted some past memories, but that does not mean that there is not still time. Currently there is a giant stain of hot chocolate spilled on our carpet. I made it for myself and Christen spilled it with her foot. It happened when we were putting a rotten apple with mold on the doorstep of our friends in the other apartment. We are listening to Christmas music. Mark, Chels, Kindra, and Kristen just dropped by. I was just over at Beth, Carrie, Kellyn, and Brittany’s apartment. Susanne and I just made an official count of all of the couples in our apartment who have made out on the couch I am sitting on now. And I am realizing that some things never change, but, life does go on. And this week, in an effort to reconnect with the past that I seemed to leave behind me, I have been blessed like crazy by my friends. And things are incredibly beautiful.

I saw this quote and it really hit me for where I am now in life. Sometimes it is easier to want to go back to another time in our past when we thought things were perfect. This quote made me think that it really is ‘later than you think’ and if we don’t slow down and enjoy this moment here right now, we will miss it. So, slow it down, take way too many pictures, skip class once in a while, stay up all night long, watch the same movie over and over again, fall asleep in your friend’s dorm room, buy ice cream for your friend who just broke up with her boyfriend, smoke a cigar in the back, drive around campus creeping on couples, eat a lot of popcorn, dress up in your 80s outfit when appropriate, heck, decorate your friend’s dorm room with tampons (don’t ask). Live it all up because it really is later than you think.

"Carpe diem! Rejoice while you are alive; enjoy the day; live life to the fullest; make the most of what you have. It is later than you think."

Sometimes change can hurt, and saying goodbye to old friendships and relationships that were once there can leave a hole, and you want to go back to those ‘good old days.’ But tonight I know that there really is no such thing. I think the moment I am in right now in this very apartment on this very couch with the stench of spilled hot chocolate all throughout the air is a good old day, and someday I will want to be in this moment again.

And how lucky am I?

[But, just for old times sake, I think it’s time to post some pictures from my freshman year]

Pretty sure we did not even know each other in the above picture, but it became our tradition picture ever since it was first taken in August, 2007!