"I miss the good old days...."


Maybe I know why I'm feeling a little strange lately.... Maybe I really miss being in the college atmosphere. I feel so out of it. After spending four years of my life around such good friends all the time, living off campus with only one roomate, and out of the way of campus life, has me a little bummed out. I really miss those years....

Now, my life consists of getting up each day and either going to work, or hanging around finding things to keep me busy on a day off. No more are there the student-populated places around campus to go to.... No longer are there the friends to just call up and say, "Hey, wanna meet me in front of the library and go for a walk?".... No more is there even the dining hall atmosphere. (yeah, some of you may laugh, but strangely I do miss that)... No longer are there even classes to go to and new educational things to learn.... No longer are there college theatre rehearsals to eat up my evenings.... No longer is there the general hubub of a campus that is usually alive at all hours of the day and night in some way or another.... No longer are there the familiar sounds of music on too loud wafting through the thin residence walls..... No longer do I need to carry around text books and look like an intelligent college student.... No longer can I just go and hang out in the computer labs working on art projects (I don't even have those software programs on my computer!).... No longer am I in a place where news of nearly anything college-related passes around campus repidly.... No longer to I even have access to the technological lifeblood of campus for the past four years -- the intranet and the intranet email....

...Mostly, I just miss being around those friends I had for four years. Times change though. Two of my former roomates and best friends are already married and off building families. My best friend, and also former roomate of two years, lives an hour north of the city with his grandmother, and only on rare occassions does he ever get to come down here to visit (and alas with no car, I cannot go up and visit him). I now have a job -- I'm a college grad, I have to have a good job.... I literally live by myself (meaning, my apartmentmate, Noah, has his own friends he hangs out with....).

I'll be honest, other than when I go to work, or have to run an errand, I've retreated once again to the comforts of my computer. You wanna know why?.... Thats where I can keep in contact with all these friends. Friends I once hung out with on campus all the time are now spread out all over the place. ... One is living at home in California.... Another, who is in graduate school in Chicago, just got back from some hospitality work in China.... Two of my friends, now married to each other, live in Minnesota, and another friend (also recently married) is moving there shortly as well.....

Aside from the few friends still on campus, there are a few in Milwaukee here. Another former roomate and friend, and his wife (also a friend) do live here in the city, but we aren't able to get together much; we have different lives. One of my very few old highschool friends (the pastor's son from my church back home in MN), took a call to be a teacher (yeah, a teacher!!!) and the athletic director (!!!) at a WELS Lutheran school here in the city. Unfortunately, I'm not sure how to get hold of him.... Maybe I just need to go visit those few friends on campus sometime soon.... There is one there who seems to warm my heart whenever I get the opportunity to chat with her....

But the truth of all this is.... I miss the good old days. For me, lately, life is just going a lot slower than it did back then. I have a good job, I have a nice roof over my head, a paycheck to support me, and my computer to stay in tune with the outside world. Beyond that most everything else is something I miss and it's very hard to re-find.

Yeah, I know it's a bit of a bummer, and I am a little depressed about it sometimes, but I guess honestly, aside from all that that I miss, life really isn't that bad. Sure, I wish there are things I still had access to, but life moves on right? ... Oh, well, maybe I'm just not comfortable living such a slow life. Maybe I need more activity, more people to see and places to go.... more excitement. I'm happy with the simple things, I just wish they didn't always have to be SO simple. :)

Well, I've mused upon this long enough. Time to move on with my day. If you're a friend of mine, and you happen to read this, please, drop me a line sometime. Maybe we can plan something.... or go for a walk even. :)

Take care everyone. Have a wonderful day, and, for those friends of you out there that I miss..... You're in my thoughts and prayers.

God Bless.
-Jon
posted by Jon at 12:24 PM  I   I  0 comments