My estimation was correct, and the wet, delicate crystals began to drowsily spew from above, marking the world below with white polka dots. Contrasting noticeably with the quiet aura so typical to snowstorms, announcers' voices from the football stadium blared across campus. "Touchdown for number 17!" they roared. Aha! The high school regional football championships! (At least I think that's what it's called... I lack severely in the athletic realm of things). Whatever the technical term for it is, high schools were facing off in the prestigious college stadium, and all of a sudden I started thinking about life. (Warning: stop reading this post now if you aren't in the mood for one of my philosopher-wannabe rants. Better yet, don't read this blog if you don't like these rants, because really that's the main subject matter here.) Yes, it's true. As I was crossing the street, I looked to the North and saw the florescent beams of the stadium lights, and remembered last year, when I was in that stadium, cheering for MY high school football team. I remembered walking up and down the stadium steps, with my camera scratchily nagging around my neck, snapping photos of this and that and everything in between in desperate preparation for the looming yearbook deadline. I remembered obsessively keeping sunglasses on my face throughout the entire game because this was the era of The Great Eyebrow Plucking Fiasco of 2013. (Don't overpluck, just don't do it.) I remembered leaving the game early because our team was losing, and I wanted deep-fried mozzarella sticks from Shivers, and let's face it, I had lost interest in the game within three minutes of arriving, and I'd filled my memory card with photos, and it was cold, and blah, blah, blah. Basically, I remembered all of this happening a year ago. A year ago-- that's the important focus here. It has been a year since these memories were made.
Still weaving through the labyrinth sidewalks of campus, the snow falling more and more rapidly, I started thinking about all that's happened within the 365 days since I was in that stadium. (Now I realize that it most likely hasn't been exactly 365 days since this game happened, since the games most likely don't align in exact annual fashion, but WORK WITH ME HERE, PEOPLE.) There's been a lot of good in those 365 days. There's been periods of happiness-- forming new friendships, doing well in my AP classes, speaking at graduation, starting a new job, taking vacations, and experiencing all the spontaneous, crazy, joyful moments that come with being 18. There's also periods of sadness-- a car accident, some breakups, loads of self-doubt, the stresses of becoming independent, saying goodbye, and all the unplanned, challenging, painful moments that come with being 18. This year has been an ebb and flow of happy and sad.
So bear with me here, as I argue that that's kind of how it works in life, really. Life isn't a static experience, it's a dynamic one. It moves, and morphs, and changes. Life is a constant ebb and flow. It doesn't sit still. At times it ebbs and flows in a happy direction and at others times it ebbs and flows in a sad direction. It's an infinite pattern: happy, sad, happy, sad, happy, sad...We cannot predict how long each phase will last, although he hope that the happy phases last longer than the sad. But we can know that the pattern in never-ending and that both phases allot us experiences, and growth, and memories.
There's been a lot of happy, and a lot of sad in the past year. But as I finally reached my car with the snow now rhythmically falling, I realized that I wouldn't trade any of it for the world.
Anyways, with my rant taken care of for today, I can finish this post and get back to eating chicken nuggets (Dino Nuggets, because duh, they're the best) and watching Home Alone 2 (because duh, Kevin also reigns supreme in my book.) Priorities are definitely in the right place.
A photo from that memorable football game. Take note that yes, indeed, my brows are strategically covered by the glasses. Also, I checked the date on the photo, and at 11/14/13, it has been just one day short of a full year. Maybe my estimation skills aren't so bad after all.
