It’s been many years since college, and I still remember the path I walked from my dorm room through the Quad to Intro to Politics class. I wore either a plaid button-down shirt or the t-shirt from the concert I went to that weekend. I’d top off the look with some cutoff jeans, a row of bracelets dangling from my wrist, and a high ponytail with a matching scrunchie. If I close my eyes, I can see the white, nameless food truck on University Avenue where I would grab a greasy breakfast sandwich and a cup of coffee – even though my parents bought me a meal plan. And then, I head up the hill to class at Ruby Jones Hall.
I was thinking about this at 7:30 this morning while attending a Zoom meeting with Andrew’s guidance counselor about his college plans. I knew this moment was coming, but what mother is ever ready for this process to begin? Andrew is our youngest, and while I’ve been down this road before with our daughter, it isn’t any easier emotionally the second time around. In fact, while I was on the call, it occurred to me that his advisor probably wasn’t even born when I was in college. Still, I sat there to be educated in the COVID-19 SAT changes made this year (no essay section – YAY!), the magic of Naviance, and wishing all of this information was available to me when I was his age.
It is hard enough to come to terms with the fact that I have a daughter in college, and now we have to start searching for where Andrew will land next. I’m excited for both of them. Let’s face it – college is the best time of our lives as we try our hands at being adults while living out our childhood dreams of independence. Our daughter still calls three times a day, and am not complaining. I can only hope he will do the same.
When we ended our Zoom call, I thought about how college didn’t seem so long ago for me. And then, I looked in the mirror and saw that okay – maybe it has been that long. And then, this song popped into my head from the musical Avenue Q. I saw the show a few years after I graduated and this song was just as relevant now as back then. If you’ve seen the musical you know it…
I wish I could go back to college.
Life was so simple back then.
What would I give to go back and live
in a dorm with a meal plan again!
I wish I could go back to college.
In college, you know who you are.
You sit in the quad
and think, “Oh my God!
I am totally gonna go far!”
Trine
February 9, 2021 at 11:52 pm (3 years ago)I think we all feel like this. I have a few years before I send off mine, but it’s rapidly approaching. Best of luck to Andrew and to you ?
Alice Gerard
February 9, 2021 at 11:45 pm (3 years ago)My college years were a long time ago. Sometimes, I wish that I could go back. I would for sure choose a different major, either botany or entomology. My interests for sure changed when I developed a mad love for plants and insects!