Have a Nice Life

As I was turning in my mass comm law final last week, my professor simply said, "Have a nice life." I thought, "I will now that I'm done with your class." However, it did seem kinda odd to just acknowledge that we'll never see each other again. No tears. No sappy goodbyes. Just have a nice life. It's crazy how quickly people come and go in your life. There are some that you think you'll remain in contact with forever that just disappear off the face of the earth, and there are others that you assume are out of your life forever that mysteriously reappear. Perfect example: I had a class with the younger sister of my childhood friend this semester. Mind you, I moved from that neighborhood in 1991 (17 years ago)! And I haven't spoken to the friend since circa 1993 when we shared an awkward 10-year-old phone call about her wanting a telescope for her birthday. We didn't recognize each other at first, but then we each noticed the other person's last name on their computer screen. I never thought I'd run into a friend from my Salt Lake years again, but I found myself sitting next to her a couple times a week.

"Have a nice life" seemed hugely appropriate for last week. It was my last week of college (barring any surprise course failures) and the last week at my dental office job. It's crazy that life can drastically change so quickly. Last week I was contemplating driving off a cliff (which is usually the case at the end of a semester), and wondering how it would feel to know that I no longer worked at the place I've been for almost four years. Fast forward a week, and school's done (feels like history already), and my now full-time job at the Wasatch Journal feels as natural as can be. (It helps that I've been at the WJ in some capacity for months now.)

I'd like to write an introspective, intellectual summation of my college experience, but for now I'm glad it's done, and I'm licking my college-induced wounds (being, of course, a constant sense of anxiety over incomplete assignments, perpetual drowsiness, and a year's worth of dirty laundry). Healing will come, I'm sure. And when I feel like it, I'll share my words of collegiate wisdom. And if everyone's really lucky, I'll share some of my favorite college tales: that of my boiled-egg-eating arch nemesis and the tale of my compliment-showering stalker. Another day...