Oh boy, does time fly. I know it’s cliché to say “it seems like the year just started yesterday,” but it’s kind of fascinating how one can fail to realize the actual value of time until it has passed. Each second, each minute, each hour of each day was filled with memories that I will treasure until they eventually begin to fade away, only to be brought up again by every picture, every video, every movie that I know I will look at whenever I feel even a bit gloomy. There were so many memories that defined time better than any number or clock ever could. Fall was the season of excitement but hesitance, winter was filled with festivities with a tinge of loneliness, and spring brought some new hope with a sense of rejuvenation. Sure this year was filled with some of my happiest times, but it wouldn’t be fair to say that everything was all sunshine and rainbows, because in reality it never is like that. You need the rain to make the rainbows, and you need the clouds to make the rain, but the clouds also eventually part ways to give their spot to the sun and remove the haze.
Another year passed, yet it was not just any year. It was the year when I took my first steps into college — a unique blend of happiness, mental breakdowns, independence, and a bunch of academic takedowns. College was my fresh start. A place away from my comfort zone, high school miseries, and controlling memories. Maybe it was my naiveté of thinking that independence was a new lesson that was only filled with excitement and happiness. But I guess it wouldn’t be a lesson if it didn’t involve some bewilderment and messiness.
As Forrest Gump said, “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get.” I don’t really like chocolates, but I used to love thinking about how my visions could be met. Could’ve been, would’ve been, should’ve been. The past can’t be changed, and the sheer amount of possibilities for the future can drive you completely insane. It took me time to stop myself from thinking about “what ifs” because the truth is that there really isn’t any end. The first year put me in situations that I couldn’t predict, forced me to face things that I tried so hard to escape, and taught me how to be okay with not being able to foresee every little thing about every significant day.
Unpredictability is synonymous with people. I could talk about them all day, all night, even on rainy days when their presence in my mind would make everything especially bright. My dad told me that life is like a moving train. People get on and get off, some leaving soon after they came, and some staying way longer on the train. The people that came and went taught me so many things, and the ones that are still here with me continue to enlighten me through this journey.
The journey may be long, but every train makes stops along the way. I want to think of this first year as one of the many stops from which I inevitably have to part ways. So, as much as I will miss it, I wish farewell to this column with hopes of making a path for the next thing in this perceived progression.
