It's a time, a place, a memory, a feeling. It fades into the background in everyday life, but comes rushing back at full force in the right context. Then it's as if you'd never left.
I moved my cousin back into residence today, at McMaster. I always smile when I do that turn on that highway, and the lake comes into view, 7 minutes before the exit to the school. I have done that drive a hundred times, and I would never tire of it. As soon as I turned into the university, I ran into a friend of mine, who now works there full time. Then the blasts of music come into earshot, and IT'S FROSH WEEK! Obviously I'm not one to party, but once upon a time I spent an entire summer planning welcome week for all the students in residence. Seeing how things were going today, the different groups in their brightly painted coveralls, the anticipation and thinly veiled apprehension of the first years... it's just great. I'll never forget how I felt at 17, moving my pillow into that all-girls hall. Nor at 20, watching 5000 students participate in the activities I planned. It's an awesome feeling.
I've been feeling a little sentimental already, this being my last year of school in the foreseeable future. But it's also weird to not be starting school with everyone else tomorrow. I have this lull of 3 weeks before leaving of England, while everyone will already be hitting the books. Well, let's be honest, buying the books, at least. I guess it prepares me for how it's going to feel next year, when September will just be another month in the routine of life. Or not, since God willing I would have started my articling job by then. I will miss the promise of the autumn breeze, fresh notebooks and back-to-school haircuts.
Until I have kids of my own.
3 comments:
This is the first September in 20 years that I haven't gone to school. I'm terrified.
LOL...Michelle...you have beautiful words and sentiment. But I find this so humourous because just yesterday I was cursing September in Victoria.
I live in a university city. Our (small) population of 300000 is made up of retirees and UVIC students. Over each summer I forget what September is like in this city and then it shocks me when labour day rolls around. Have you tried running basic errands (like buying toilet paper) at the same time that every first year student is trying to set up their dorm room/new apartment? Yesterday I battled many MANY sets of parents and their kids for basic amenities such as dishsoap and kleenex, all while hearing "You don't need that!"..."Do you know how much we're spending on your tuition?".."No-name is FINE!"
But, I will admit that the blue and yellow Bic packaging, new binders, and perfect white erasers make me nostalgic for the first day of school.
I think I may just turn that comment into a blog post of my own...
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