Well, here it is, MY LAST DAY OF CLASS AT SCHOOL! Where has it all gone, more importantly, where did all that information go that I was tested on over the last 18 years?? There must be traces of it in the far corners of my brain somewhere… Where did the time go?
Ok, sentimental senior time, I remember the first day of school here at Baylor. My parents dropped me off in my new, tiny, odd smelling dorm room with my roommate, Allison (still my roommate along with Tally), and we just sat and stared at eachother like, "what the heck are we supposed to do now?" It was one of those odd moments, where we both were incredibly torn with emotions between yelling out the window, "wait! come back! I want to go home!" and "this is college, time to get crazy & do fun stuff." Needless to say, we ended up staying for the fun stuff. We toughed it out saving out tears for later and made the first crazy college decision to eat at Fazollis! And we never went back to Fazollis… it was too crazy 🙂
Remembering back to that first day reminds me a lot of some emotions I feel today. Where did all those years go! They seriously flew. I remember everyone telling me, "those best four years of your life fly by and you never get them back so live it up!" Well its true. Here I am, and they're gone! I look forward and all I want to do is reverse time, spend more nights staying up making forts and watching movies with my roommates, sleeping over at friends houses, going on weekend ranch adventures, rafting down the Brazos, playing at the park, having more cookouts, more hangouts, more jam sessions and more fun and lots of laughs with the people I've learned to love over these years. I don't get this time back, and it kind of makes me sad to look back and wonder if I did all I could… They told me to live it up. They told me the time would be gone. They told me.
But they didn't tell me everything. Yes, I don't get these four years back, and the chances I didn't take and the memories I didn't make are gone. But I am not out of time. Sure, four years are gone, and let me tell you they were some of the funnest and most incredible years of my life, but I pray harder for everyday after my college days to be filled with the same fun, friendships and memories as the ones I've had here. Life doesn't have to stop after college for me, and the fun I have doesn't plataue into the good 'ol days. There is more responsibility, there is lots of work to be done, there are bills to be paid and food to be made, but there are people to be loved and lived among!
We are not people created to plateau in this life, reaching a peak of accomplishment and simply flatlining. No! We are created to grow! As a wise professor has told me this semster, "healthy things grow!" There is no need to continue in a life of average, mediocre and flatlined because our best years are behind us. We were made to go out and do the coolest things! God did not plan for us to have boring lives, but he tells us, "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to PROSPER you, and not to harm you, plans to give you HOPE and a FUTURE!" (Jer. 29:11) There is hope in our future, in your future, and it is only for our good that we grow and prosper, living more life in each year as we continue on!
I look back at these four years at Baylor knowing that I lived them up as best I could doing all the fun things I've ever wanted, but I know that there is more fun in life to come. To hold onto these moments and set them as "best" in my life will ensure I never have any fun at all, but looking forward into the adventure that awaits me on my journey through life reminds me that there is still so much life to be had! It is never too late to start growing again, it is never too late to rekindle old friendships, and it is never too late to make memories of laughter and love. And for every year extra from here on out, I will have more fun, more laughs, more joys, more challenges, more friendships, more family and altogether more memories than the one before. So here's to the best years of my life to come! Happy Graduation! SIC 'EM BEARS!
-Kaylaynn
