???Have you ever felt time literally slip between your fingers? As if you grabbed a handful of sand and watched the granulates slowly dissipate into the air, leaving you starring into the open abyss wondering where they will eventually fall.
??? As commencement eerily looms, each day passing bringing us closer to the inevitable moment when we must don that indescribably heinous shade of UB blue that dominates our cap and gown. All I seem to think about is how, in almost a blink of an eye, four years have come and gone, and in the ensuing months, I have to pack up my time here into over-stuffed suitcases once and for all.
???Since entering UB in the fall of 2005, I have moved three times, each more difficult than the last. The first was into the tower of Wilkeson, where I was placed into a random quad and found out that living with three strangers was easier than I thought, though some of my roommates may disagree. Wilkeson was all about compromise - learning to accept each other's habits, tuning into your maternal instinct when roommates fail to show up after a night out on Main Street and realizing that college will only get sweeter once you're done with freshman year.
???Sophomore year, from what I remember of it thanks to my lovely roommates, I moved again, this time up with the bats in the belfry we call Fargo. The infamous dorm room, where yet again four girls packed like sardines made it their home away from home, brought about fantastic destruction. For those who dared to enter our Amazonian kingdom, they were instantly greeted by a slew of clothing lying around from the weekend's latest adventures, millions of vending machine/100-calorie pack wrappers and an inconspicuous pink polo hat that was seen lingering on the fire alarm.
??? Sophomore year was a balancing act, learning how to balance, to be exact. Making it to classes, extracurriculars, keeping in touch with family and friends from home and holding on to the new connections formed since freshman year, all while leaving your teenage years behind and figuring out what its like to be in your 20s.
???My third and final move was during junior year, leaving the beloved Amherst behind for the cheaper rent of off-campus housing in the Heights where I still reside today. The move was excruciating, picking and choosing through the remnants of my first two years and schlepping furniture from West Northrup back to Merrimac in the dead heat of June.
???My last two years have been about strengthening my relationships with friends who have become family and my many dear sisters. Looking around on the walls of my room, I see how differently each year has touched my life and literally cluttered my walls. I can't imagine undoing everything I have collected over the years, and as much as I have protested it, I have made a home in Buffalo and the thought of leaving in May proves to be too much to address at this moment.
???I'm at the point where I'm being pushed off a ledge into the whirlwinds of fate and future. As I sit here rewriting my conclusion to this column (going on a half hour now) and doing my best to avoid a stereotypical corny ending, I'm just simply going to say...we'll see what happens.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
