This weekend marks UCLA’s graduation ceremonies for the class of 2009. First of all, congratulations to all my friends from all universities who are walking this weekend (or already just walked)!!! Yay! You guys did it!
Second of all, has it seriously been a year already?! A year since I walked, smiled for the camera, hugged the last hugs, said the final goodbyes and then left the place I had lived the last 4 years of my life? Yeah, it seems that it all really did happen. Time passes by so quickly. It is hard to believe that that life was all just a mere 365ish days ago. Plus, I’m a sap.
So much has happened during the year in between that in all honesty, it feels like a lifetime ago. My life as a Bruin was great, it was fantastic and amazing. But the growth and emotions of the past year has in a way turned my UCLA memories into something that just happened ... but a long time ago. If that makes sense. Kinda. Life is marked by stages and phases. You chop it all up and mix it in a giant bowl to create who you are at any given moment.
I replay those final few days of Westwood. In the span of about a week, final exams were taken, final course grader work was completed, final work things were tidied up, final dinners/lunches/hang outs were had, final hugs were hugged, final boxes were packed up to be moved out of the apartment, a lot of final things going on. Somehow it was squeezed in, I even remember that Calvin had to drive me somewhere to drop off Murphy’s graded exams so that the next proctor could grade his portion of it. I remember hanging out at Calvin and Lydia’s the night before and then saying that I should probably go home (like at 4am or something) so that I can finish grading. But I had such a hard time staying awake, but graded some, walked at the college commencement, taking pictures and going to K-town for dinner, and more grading throughout the night and then econ graduation the day after. Maybe I didn’t get much sleep those final days. Seriously, all a blur.
In the end, time flies. And it flies by really quickly. We always say that we’ll see each other soon and we’ll keep in touch. But somehow, time flying by makes it hard to do so. We all become consumed with our own lives and before we know it, holidays are the times we try to reclaim fragments of those promises. I would love to be able to say that I have a good track record of maintaining contact with all those that have had a significant impact on my life. But I would be lying. I could only wish for a better record of maintaining contact. I really wish that I have at least kept up with emails but the reality is that they have been sporadic. There are so many people I wish that I had been able to keep in touch with but one thing leads to another, one excuse leads to another and before I knew it, all attempts to catch up somehow always start with the words “what’s up? how are things?” Because the sad truth is that I don’t know “what’s up” and how things have been with you. Sorry for being a lame friend.
But the fact that I can pick up conversations with old friends as if little time has passed since the last time, well that is pretty amazing as well. We all lead different lives now, and that is a part of growing up, but it is a beautiful thing when we all just come back to each other and fall back into the dance of life together. Maybe I’m not such a lame friend after all.
As one of my precious students greets me at the beginning of every lesson: Amy! Happy face!
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