I imagine it to be similar to the Sex and the City scene when Carrie and Miranda are trying on wedding dresses and suddenly Carrie starts panicking, begging to get out of the suffocating white tulle, ripping it to set herself free. I imagine it to be like this except I’ll be hyperventilating in a cap and gown, surrounded by thousands of others doing the same.
We cant ignore the fact that we have achieved something many do not, we are about to graduate college. We will feel an overwhelming sense of pride. We will be unable to wipe the smiles from our faces and the tears from our eyes. We will cry because we did it, but we will also cry because it is over.
The day we carried more bags than any 18 year old should ever own to the quaint rooms of Christensen and Williamson, we never envisioned our graduation day. We couldn’t even comprehend having our lasts when we were too busy experiencing all of our firsts. Our first Thirsty Thursday (and our first rainless Thursday). Our first Young Drive day drink. Our first tailgate. Our first nights at Scorp’s, the Knot, and Libby’s. Our first hungover JB. We’ve decorated these past four years with so many new and exciting experiences. We eagerly awaited senior year, but we did not eagerly await any of these lasts.
We got our last RAC time, signed our last lease, sold our last organs to pay for parking. We had our last walk down Main Street, rustling leaves under colorful foliage. We saw the last army of long, black down coats worn to combat the arctic tundra that is the 03824. We had our last escape to the tropics with a few hundred of our closest friends. But now we are in the final stretch, the final days of spring semester.
Sooner of later, it will be our last day drink, our last trip to the Shack, our last breakfast at the Big Bean, and our last time on Scorp’s deck as college students. It will be the last time we dread the gym, not for the physical activity but the mental preparation for who you will see and how long you will wait for a machine. Suddenly it will hit us, like a ton of bricks that hours at the Whitt have not made us strong enough to catch.
Senior week and graduation day. Four years really isn’t long enough, to soak it up, to enjoy life as we know it. We all know we must move on to bigger and better things, things that UNH has undoubtedly prepared us for, but can’t we just stay in the bubble that is Durham, NH for a little longer.
It took me far too long to realize just how much I’d miss UNH. The smell of the first days of spring as you approach a bright green THall lawn and an even brighter blue sky behind our beautiful campus buildings. Having friends just a floor away, friends who have stuck by your side for four years, showing you aspects of yourself you never even knew while also encouraging you do drop everything and have a good time. These same friends who were once complete strangers, not fill your closet of life. I look forward to what the future holds for us, but man I don’t want to look at that future quite yet.
For now, we need to enjoy each other; our proximity to friends and green grass that begs to be littered with empty beer cans, our $1 drinks and Freddy Specials. Trace Adkins was right, “these are the good times, so take a good look around because you may not know it now but your gonna miss this”. Let’s look back with no regrets, laughing at the memories we created on this campus and cherishing the people who were lucky enough to become a part of our lives. Let’s spend these last few weeks celebrating being Wildcats, even if it does mean donning a graduation cap and gown before we know it.