Welcome, Guest!
Senior column: My goodbye
LAST WEEK I walked into the hallway and found that the lounge was filled knee deep in balloons.
Yellow, orange, blue, red, pink, the balloons covered the floor and softly floated on the air, catching the light and turning the lounge into a kaleidoscope of party colors.
I was delighted. The lounge was beautiful.
Later in the day, I was struck by the transient nature of the prank. The beauty that had taken over the lounge would be gone in less than a day, and all that would be left are the memories and my pictures.
I could say something clichéd now, about how beauty always fades, but I would rather remember my time at Uni.
In a few short days, all I will have left of my Uni stay are memories (and of course the excellent education I've received).
Uni has been the stage for many of my firsts and many of my lasts. My time at Uni is the longest I have stayed in one place in my life, and honestly, it feels the most like home of anywhere I have ever been.
It was here that I learned that I was not, as I thought before, the smartest person in the world, and was in fact mediocre in comparison with many of my friends. I also learned that I could live with that.
I learned humility. I learned that some things are more important than grades — my friend's feelings, helping someone, my own sanity.
Uni has also been the setting of major changes in my life. In the space of five years, two of my brothers were born: Brennan, 3 years old, and Logan, 1 year old, who are the joy of my life.
At the same time I lost my stepmother to cancer and my stepsister who moved north to live with her dad. I overcame depression and an eating disorder; I learned how to play soccer and truly enjoy myself with friends.
Through all of the ups and downs, my Uni friends and mentors have been there to cry with me in the bad times, and eat Derald's and frolic in the good times. My classmates and I have grown up together, worked together, played together.
If this weren't a serious column I would compare my class to a pride of lions for no particular reason, but since it is a serious column, I'll forgo the humor and call us a family, albeit one with lots of crazy aunts and uncles.
I'm not going to lie. Most of my Uni “career,” as science teacher Pat Morris always says, was a haze of stress, but the times that weren't were great.
I love all of you, and as my stay at Uni draws to a close, I'd just like to say: It didn't last long enough, but it was beautiful.
