Here's a heads up

8/23/2018

Welcome to the Good Ol’ Days

Chuck Greenlee / For The Post

I don’t like writing in first-person. Truth be told, people who like writing about themselves likely get high off the sound of their own voice. But it’s time to swallow this pill after something I’ve been sitting on.

The Post is home to dozens of brilliant minds. As opinion editor, I get to pick those minds week-by-week. Seeing what makes people tick is intimate in a sense, but there’s one piece that I recall that is more applicable than ever –– especially for incoming freshman.

Former Post Sports Editor Andrew Gillis wrote a ‘goodbye’ of sorts to Athens and Ohio University. His lede stuck out to me.

“I never liked telling people that I went to Ohio University,” he said.

(Note: Gillis hails from Virginia, so folks often mixed up OU and Ohio State University (no, I am not putting in that word that OSU likes before their acronym)).

It’s a sentimental piece. I don’t want to spoil too much of it, so please, read it. It does, however, end with him referring to Athens as his favorite place in the world.

So here you are, reading this for whatever reason. We’re glad you are. I want you to do one thing different than my pal Gillis: Be proud of this crazy town. You chose OU for some reason, you know why. Yeah, your first semester is likely to be an up-again down-again ride. That’s how life works. Your late-teens and early-20s are for sure supposed to be like that.

And you couldn’t have picked a better place to strap in for the wild ride.

I’ve said that somewhere before so forgive me for beating a drum like this. You’re in the good ol’ days now. Remember that bit from The Office, last episode of the series. Andy says he wishes there was a way to know you’re in the good ol’ days before you’ve already left them. This is it, this is as explicit of a heads-up as you will receive. Welcome to the good ol’ days. The times you tell your kids about, and the times you probably would rather not tell your parents about.

Going into my last year here, I realize that there is no other way I’d have spent the last four years. The lowest of lows have only led to the highest of highs. Life has a funny way of working itself out, especially now. So sit back, and think about how much is in store for you.

Development by: Megan Knapp / Digital Production Editor

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