New MCG's

I woke up this morning with a huge lump in my throat that I couldn't soften. I tried and tried but it wouldn't budge.

It may have been because it was 4:30 IN THE MORNING and I had only gotten two hours of sleep. But there I was, awake, unable to shake the sadness and semi-fear of what was to come: orientation crew. Some of you reading this may be thinking that I am not only on drugs but that I have reached the prime state of paranoia and social anxiety. But it wasn't because I was afraid of the people. It was this whole battle with time thing that had me anxious.

We welcomed the class of 2014 this morning. Twenty-fourteen. 20fourteen. Twenty14. Twentyfourteentwentyfourteentwentyfourteen. And my heart was breaking a little bit. See, I remember moving into Meredith. I remember not being able to sleep, having stalked everyone I had "friended" on Facebook the night before, running into the garage at 2:30 in the morning, making sure that I had packed my light blue bin with the clear lid with all of my books and that I had not forgotten shampoo, soap, or my favorite faded flip-flops with a huge picture of Snoopy on the right shoe. I remember the actual move-in day itself, stuffing my car to the gills to the point where I couldn't see anything when I was moving in, to the point where if I was about to switch lanes on the highway, I would put on my blinker for a full two minutes, say the Lord's prayer, and jerk my wheel to the right, straight on to exit three Hillsborough, turning left at the light, going straight for a couple feet, and then making my final left turn into the front drive...where I was greeted by a slew of fabulous ladies all screaming, "Welcome to Meredith!" and telling me to honk my horn. I remember how my dad and I tag-teamed and took a box of clothes up to my room, only to have the bin crack and explode a plethora of colorful bras all over the second Heilman stairs. I remember meeting Megan and Carolyn and Brittany and Caroline and Tricia and having Danielle teach me how to "walk it out" that night. I remember it all.

I cried all the way to my beloved Meredith today, because it really and truly hit me: I am a senior. I will be leaving after this year. This is my last orientation crew. I will know the class of 2014 for exactly one year...and then I leave.

It scares the curls out of me, sometimes, knowing that next year I'll be driving good old Leo the Geo up to New York, where I will probably still over-pack my car and still put my blinker on and give other drivers a fair warning before Leo makes his move. It scares me knowing that I will not see my friends, my sisters, really, for a long time.

And yet.

Though I had a mini-breakdown that included a lot of ugly crying and blowing my nose on a random sock that I found in my car (sometimes ya do what ya gotta do, okay?), I had a blast today. Even though it was five o'clock, being with all of my friends and getting ready to greet the new freshies was just so exciting and made my insides brim with adrenaline. When it was time, we donned our sandwich board signs, held up our cookie sheet and silver tongs, cranked up the music, and started screaming. The reactions we got varied...some girls looked petrified, others excited. The boyfriends were the best, though. Michelle Cox would play good cop, bad cop, gently waving them through the circle with her tongs, and then when they got close, she would pound on her cookie sheet and bellow into their windows, "WELCOME TO ME-RE-DITH!" coupled with the classic guy bark. I really thought I would wet my pants.

Every senior that I ran into would give me a hug and then we'd exchange a look that only we understood. The feeling that it would soon end, but that surely in the end, it would all be okay. Regardless, I have never seen my campus lovelier today.

Class of 2014, welcome to Meredith. I hope you love this campus just as much as I have, and that it is just as phenomenal to you as it has been to me. I hope you fumble through your first Corn but get incredibly excited for the next. I hope you go on late night Cookout Runs. I hope you figure out that the showers have a habit of going from lukewarm to burning hot to ice-drop cold in a matter of seconds. I hope you have run-ins with the geese. I hope Jean Jackson asks you randomly to quote memory lines...in public. I hope you grow into yourself and begin to see that you are actually pretty great. I hope you love your friends to the point that it hurts. And I hope you have a lot of pride in this school. Class of 2014...welcome home.

Circles

When I was about to start my freshman year in college, my best friend Jackie included me, my wonderful friend Audrey, a childhood chum named Karen in on her graduation present: front row seats to the John Mayer/Ben Folds/James Morrison concert


God, we look so young (we were what, eighteen?). But the concert was fantastic, nonetheless. It was my first time seeing John Mayer live; I had originally gone for Ben Folds, being a little snotty about seeing Mister Mayer. I had liked his music, knowing the standard lyrics, "I wanna run through the halls of the high school/I wanna scream at the top of lungs," but I wasn't super crazy about him. But when he took the stage, I couldn't take my eyes away; he was such a talented musician and his comments before his songs were hilarious. One thing that he said before singing "No Such Thing" was that in high school we think we're one way but really, when we get out it's when we discover who we really are and that the times we have in college are those to really cherish and live in the moment for. I remember going right home after the concert and downloading all of his music.

As my college years have gone on, my Ipod and Itunes have housed John and his lovely jams, but I hadn't thought about that concert in 2007 in awhile. Then Friday happened: My big sis at Meredith (Maggie) skyped me and asked if I wanted to accompany her to the John Mayer/Train concert that following night because her partner in crime, Whitney, had fallen sick (I hope you're feeling better, boo!). Did I?! SCHYEAH.

It's funny to think that I saw John Mayer before I started my first year and the I got to see him as my last year in college looms ahead. Pat Monahan (the lead singer of Train), though forty-eight years old, was tall, thin, sarcastic...and talented. I could not believe the voice that came out him! He pulled a woman onstage who had the sign, "Forget Virginia...meet Karen!" Hahahaha.


When John came onstage, everyone stood up and started cheering, Maggie and I included. We just had fun the entire night (sans a creeper who tried to hit on us...I told him our names were Lisa and Joanne). He crooned his way through songs mostly from the new album, and gave random but hysterical commentary about life in general (the way he speaks reminds me of Mitch Hedberg). Then came the Song that Caused the Tears: Stop This Train. Suddenly John launches into a speech about how sometimes we can't really slow down time and next thing I know he's quietly singing, "So scared of getting older/Only good at being young", and my eyes were welling up faster than I could wipe them off. It was one of those poignant moments that I don't think I'll ever forget. It was like I was hearing that song for the first time and really understanding what those lyrics meant. It was my favorite moment of the night.

I couldn't help but think about my ladies in the class of 2010, though-he launched into a smooth rendition of "Don't Stop Believin'" and all I could think about were those colorguard highschoolers twirling flags in the back :).

Senior year starts in less than a month. I can't even believe my summer's slowly coming to a close! Before school though, my lovely friend Hannah and I are planning to storm the Wilmington beach at midnight and play in the sand. We don't know when, but it's going to happen. Man, I really am good at being young.