Far too often, understanding and appreciating the gravity of a certain time in our lives happens retroactively.
This will happen hundreds of times in our lifespan, and we will look back and smile or cry, and wish we were somehow able to live in that moment just a bit longer.
We wish, somehow, that we could feel that certain way again.
The end of this school year will be the end of everything as I have ever known it; and man, how I wish I could go back to so many amazing moments of my time here at St. Bonaventure.
When I came here four years ago, the seniors were almost intimidating to me. They seemed so much older and wiser, that the prospect of being one of them someday was one I truly could not imagine. While (thank God) I am much wiser after three years at school, I don’t feel as different now as I imagined I would then. I don’t have it all figured out. I don’t have any plans. I am still just trying to get through each week of schoolwork with my head above water.
But that is every college student’s crucial mistake. We spend so much time stressing out about grades, about work, about deadlines, that eventually, another year has gone by far too quickly.
Don’t get me wrong, all of these things are important.
However, many of us get so wrapped up in the small things that we forget about the experience. We forget that we will never again be the way we are right now, right at this moment. We forget that sometimes, it’s okay to go to that Slaughter Party on a Wednesday when you have a test on Thursday morning, or that one D on a test is not going to determine the rest of your life.
We forget that after just four incredibly short years, we won’t get to live in the same place as every single one of our friends, we won’t get to crawl to work in our pajamas after a long night or put off thoughts about the “real world…” because we’ll be in it.
Underclassmen, enjoy every single minute you spend on this campus. Appreciate how wonderful your friends are. Remember that choosing fun over homework is okay sometimes, and will always make for a better story in the end.
Seniors, as our time at this truly magical place comes to an end, let’s not forget to relish every single breath we take here until graduation. Let’s go out the same way we came in four years ago: with a bang.
Emily Mulcahey is the opinion editor for The Bona Venture
