Memory is a funny thing. In one moment, a nostalgic flood will wash over you, the next, your mind is as blank as the Microsoft Word document I’m writing this column on.
Just the other day I was talking to my mom when a certain phrase she used drew my mind to freshman year. The memory, at the time, was quite humorous, enough so to distract me from my mother’s monologue. Now, I couldn’t even begin to say what I remembered.
As the end of the school year approaches, such moments have become commonplace. For nearly four years, Gannon has been my life. While here I’ve lived, I’ve loved and I’ve lost. Friends have come, friends have gone. But soon, I’ll have to walk away from that.
I don’t know how I’ll react after I walk during graduation and away from the home I’ve made, but I know what I’ll be thinking about when I’m there.
I’ll remember the time that I first met my four-year roommate Jacob Nemchick during orientation, when my Ozzie Newsome jersey initiated the first of many conversations about sports. I’ll remember when Kyle Lassak couldn’t remember my last name, leading to the nickname “Q.”
I’ll think of the first time I saw the rest of the journalism communications majors in class after I switched majors. I reminisce about the good, and extraordinarily long, nights in the Knight Office on Tuesdays.
I’ll look back to last summer, when the warm Erie nights felt endless when you were with friends. I’ll retrace that timeless moment when you look into someone’s eyes and know that there is nowhere else you’d rather be.
While I walk up during graduation, everything will slow down. Tears will be shed, relatives will be proud, and I will just think about a certain Harvey Pekar quote:
“Ordinary life is pretty complex stuff.”
Graduation is just another step in the grand scheme of things, but to each individual, it’s a whole new life. I still don’t know exactly what will happen to me after May 7. Will I adjust to the usual grind of an everyday job? Will I someday make it big?
Will I ever see my friends from Gannon again?
Graduation is a simple concept, but the thoughts running through my mind as I walk will be anything but. I don’t know what will happen in the future, but I’m not nearly as worried as I should be, because after all the people I’ve had the pleasure of knowing, one thing is certain – even after I leave Gannon, Gannon will never leave me.
Thank you for making my life so complex.
