Sentimental Me...

I'm feeling a bit sentimental today about my college days. Going to school at Harding University posed some huge transitions and growing in my life. I will never forget the first day my folks dropped me off as a terrified 18 year old Freshman in the fall of 1991. It was the first time I'd ever been away from home for any length of time, and it was hard. I HATED IT!! I HATED being 6 hours from home, my family, my friends that I'd been around for 18 years, and I just missed my "comfort zone". Even though my brother and one of my best friends from home was at Harding, it was still hard on me. Something else I learned while at HU, and grew to highly dislike (even to this day), I never knew girls were SO dramatic until I lived in a dorm with a bunch of hormonal, crying, screaming, stab you in the back, 18 year old females. I never had any drama with my best friends from home, so this was all new to me. I kept thinking, "College is supposed to be fun?" Wasn't for me...at least in the beginning! Oh, I had good times there, but I had some rough times, too. I toughed Harding out for 2 years, but I really didn't like school or being there. I was just trying to find my place, but it wasn't working. So...I dropped out after the Spring of 1993. I moved back home, and worked a few years. I got my own apartment and a full time job, and in the Spring of 1996, I met a girl who was attending Harding. We became close friends, and she talked me into returning to Harding. In the Fall of 1996, I returned to HU. This time it was different, I was 23 and "old" compared to the students who were there. It was kinda strange going back to school, I mean, I'd lived on my own for 3 years, and now I was going back to a "curfew", dorm rules, and a weekly room check from the dorm mother to make sure you kept your room and bathroom clean. Really? So yeah, it was kind of strange, but fun, too! I had a great appreciation for school this time. Going to school felt like a vacation compared to working full time. I could skip class and no one cared, but I couldn't skip work or I'd be fired if I wanted to take a nap. I didn't have a choice with a flexible work schedule, it was 8 hour work days 5 days a week, unlike my amazing Tuesday/Thursday school schedule of one class that was Archery and Badminton. I felt FREE going back to school. And where else could you get a 3 week break for Christmas?? I mean, come on...I'd died and gone to Heaven after working full time for 3 years. :-) Even though I was older than most of the students when I went back, and most of the people I had known from the first time I was there had already graduated, it was pretty cool getting to know another group of kids. I am thankful that I was fortunate to be at HU at two different times, and I know two different groups of people and friends. I was more grown up, and I was ready this time. I wasn't homesick, and I actually never really wanted to go home when it was time. My life finally changed from living in Illinois, I had moved on. My Freshman year, my roommate and I counted down EVERY day until the next break, but this time, I found myself counting down the days on my breaks to when I could go back to school to see all my friends. I would be lying if I didn't say I would give anything to go back to those days at HU. Those were the best days of my life!! I made so many wonderful memories and life long friends. I wouldn't trade that opportunity for anything. Even when I return to Harding now, I can't stop smiling because every place I look is a memory for me. Those memories are only special to me, and I'm thankful I have them. I don't know anywhere else on earth that has a Christmas chapel where we all jingled our keys and slammed song books during the playing of "Sleigh Ride". It's a Harding tradition that probably seems corny to some reading this, but the students and alumni love it! Even now when I hear that song, I want to slam a song book for the cracking whip!! :-) I know to some, Harding was lame...too many rules, too many Bible Classes, too many this or thats...but for me, Harding holds a special place in my heart that I wouldn't trade for anything. I don't know of too many schools that feel like a family, and that family is God's family. There's nowhere else I would have rather gone to school, I grew spiritually and mentally, and most of all, it taught me how to live life on my own and not be scared to try new things. Maybe that's why I'm still a drifter today, I love living in new places and meeting new people. Will Nashville be my last stop?? Probably not because there is SO much more I want to explore before I'm too old. :-) Thanks for taking this journey with me down memory lane. God Bless!