From the Editor’s Desk

8/23/2018

From the Editor’s Desk: It’s kind of a paradox

Lauren Fisher / Editor-in-Chief

Welcome back to this weird, wonderful thing we call college.

It’s kind of a paradox, if you really think about it. You’re a functioning adult with rent to pay, jobs to do and a future that still needs to be figured out. But for some reason, you still feel like a kid.

Maybe your parents are still taking care of that rent check for you. Maybe you still go home every other weekend because you can’t quite shake the comforts of home.

That was me. Really, it still is. I was the freshman who went home at least two weekends out of every month. I craved the familiarity of mom’s cooking, the sight of my dog waiting for me in the front yard and the comfort of driving down quiet streets, waving at neighbors who always waved back.

Going home meant returning to a world that made sense. It was comfortable. Summers in hometowns were chances to see childhood friends and recount stories of days gone by.

But suddenly, as if overnight, it hit me that summers began to lose some of the magic they once held. High school friends were off doing internships and traveling abroad. Family vacations were still fun, but I began to realize that cramming the whole family into a Long Island hotel room wasn’t exciting like it was when I was a kid. It didn’t feel like a big sleepover anymore. If anything, it was just kind of frustrating.

I found myself checking my calendar every night before bed in an absolutely pointless effort to make the days pass by just a little bit quicker.

For homebodies such as myself, this is an especially uncomfortable feeling. We feel guilty for wanting to leave the nest — for wanting to make the clock tick faster. We think about how much our pets will miss us, and if the dinner table will be too quiet without us around. But at the same time, we know that it’s time for a new chapter to begin.

Our lives take on a slower pace at home but unfold at school in brilliant color. We grow into our own skin — learn how to pay bills, cook our own meals, form new ideas and opinions that will shape who we become. Daily calls to mom and dad and trips back home become fewer and further in between as we find that Athens has become a second home.

Suddenly, it’s Thanksgiving break, and everything feels just a little claustrophobic. We realize that maybe — just maybe — we grew up.

And that’s bittersweet. Heartbreaking, perhaps.

But for now, let’s forget about that.

Focus instead on the beauty of this place — savor this glorious, bittersweet experience we call college.

Soak up the feeling of that first glimpse of Peden Stadium from across the Hocking River. It’s one of those mental images that’ll send chills down your spine for years to come.

Stay out too late. Wait in the breakfast line at Union Street Diner with your friends for an entire hour. Realize that the pancakes are worth it, but the drowsy conversations are what you’ll remember.

Don’t wait until graduation day to realize what you’re going to miss. These may be a weird, frustrating couple of years, stuck here somewhere between childhood and that terrifying thing called “the real world.” But there’s truly nothing like it.

Development by: Megan Knapp / Digital Production Editor