Memories at SHSU

My last day in my twenty’s. Oh how exciting can this get. It feels like only yesterday that I stepped across that threshold moving out of my teens and into my ‘adult’ years. It was a hot May day in Huntsville Texas – the day I turned twenty. There was no love in the air or big party plans – just an average birthday. Looking back I think MAYBE I should have done more but alas, it was simply number twenty. In a small college town there is really only so much you can do.

It was the following year that the birthday fun began. Twenty-One for most people in my generation inside America is the moment they are waiting for. We have the buildup and suspense of FINALLY being able to go out and enjoy a night at the club, or a party in your back yard.

Yes, turning twenty-one in Huntsville, Texas was good.

We celebrated first with dinner and then off to The Jolly Fox. The club right next to our apartments. Quarter Night, Tuesdays, went in with ten bucks came home with two. Pool tables, dancing, and good music. That’s what a birthday should be made up with. That, and friends, the best friends I could have.

I miss my days at Sam Houston State. My friends and I had a blast, there is nothing like the companionship of a group of people from across different cultures to join together and become a family.  To get you through the hard times and easy times of college. Often I will think back to those four years and long for what used to be. A tight nit group of ten (give or take a few) who would spend the weekends together laughing, drinking and sharing. Everything from summers poolside with music, winters huddled together to stay warm while outside, or even the tornado parties we had a few times. Wiffleball on the lawn or rolley chair along the sidewalk, it was never a dull moment at UPA Apt 269.

Now we’ve all scattered and I’m only still in touch with a few on a somewhat regular basis. I miss the roommates I had, the neighbors I met and the friendships that formed. I remember someone telling me the friendships you make in college will be your friends for life. Thanks to Facebook people are able to stay in touch and communicate easier. But it’s not the same.

One of my roommates introduced me to my husband. My life today would not be complete without that simple act. He was there for my twenty-first birthday even though my date for that night was someone else. I was fortunate to have him along side me while these great memories were being laid out.

I’m pleased I became a Bearkat, proud I conquered the small college town, and excited that it opened so many doors for the next decade.

A decade that is now coming to a close.

I wonder what tomorrow will bring – and what adventures will unfold, and how it will all play out – in this crazy game called life.