Be Here
August 20, 2024
Writer: Trystan Fogg
Editor: Gretchen Quill
In this life, there are few things that remain constant. However, for the last sixteen years, there has been one thing that has never let me down: FDOC. The first day of class is just around the corner. It got me thinking, how for some of us, it is our last one…
Happy Last First Day of Class Seniors! or LFDOC for short.
I have never been more excited—or more terrified—for a year to unfold before me. How odd it is to be heading back into normalcy knowing after next May, it will never be that way again. It feels wrong to realize there is a version of myself beyond the one I have come to love in college, even weirder to consider that I am closer than ever to meeting her.
Where will she live? What job will she have? Does she like her job? Where will her friends be? What is she passionate about? How does she spend her free time? Will she be alone? Is she happy…
It appears I packed an extra IKEA bag this year, filled to the brim with “what ifs” and jarring unknowns.
It feels wrong to be feeling this way so far out from the end. I guess, I offer this personal downward spiral for those who feel that they are experiencing it alone. You’re not! It is daunting to have such a monumental moment hanging over your head, but you, and me, are getting way ahead of ourselves. While yes graduation is technically closer than it's ever been and the real world beckons to us in hushed whispers, there is so much to come before that. I guess, transparently I am worried about what comes next because I do not know how it can compare to what I have right now.
In a recent shift of mindset, I have re-framed this fear of the unknown into a reminder to be thankful for the people and things around me that have made this a place I will struggle to leave. My fear of what comes next is now just a compliment to the memories I have made, and the next memories to come. Though there are plenty of lasts in my future, I will approach them with as much unbridled joy as when they were firsts. The unknown does its best work when you let it remain unknown. Right now, you and I are here. It would be a shame to do anything else but exist right here.
