The day I thought would never come has snuck up on me like the Air Force offense. Graduation is here.
I actually graduate in April, but in all honesty I'm finished. Winter semester I have only an internship, meaning I will no longer be inconvenienced by campus construction
As I reflected on what the past five years (with a two-year mission break in the middle) have meant to me, I realized something. BYU is a pretty OK place to go to school afterall.
I've come a long way from my freshman year, when I mistakenly took 18 credits my second semester and then blew off all my classes to play with my friends. I actually went a whole month without going to class on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and while it's not something I'm proud of, it did teach me a valuable lesson. Slacking is fun at the time, but boy do you pay for it later.
But I don't want this column to be a list of the mistakes I've made at BYU. I want to take a minute and share some of the things I'll miss about this place and college in general.
I'll miss the first day of classes. You know, when you walk into a room with 25 strangers and have to figure out which one to sit by. Or, you show up early so you can get a nice seat in the back, only to discover everyone else had the same idea.
Then you spend the rest of the semester either becoming best friends with the people around you, or trying to avoid seeing them outside of class because you never bothered to learn their names. I've done both.
I'll miss taking naps on campus. My favorite spot used to be the second floor of the library before they took out the cushy chairs by the window well. I took many a nap there while I was supposed to be studying or working (I was a shelver for some time).
Second favorite spot, the HFAC benches that are scattered around the fourth and fifth floors. They are secluded, comfortable and in a quiet location -- all elements of a perfect nap spot.
I'll miss the religion classes. Institute will fill the bill, because it has too, but the opportunity to take anything from Isaiah to teachings of the living prophets to church history is one I likely won't have again. Picking my favorite religion class would be impossible, because they were all enjoyable in different ways.
I'll miss intramural sports, probably most of all. No matter how stressful my classes got, or how busy my life was I could always count on intramurals to take me away from it all. For at least one hour I could relax and concentrate on talking a little trash and taking care of business.
Sure, there are city leagues for basketball, and I can always go play tennis with my friends, but for ease, convenience and downright fun nothing beats intramurals at BYU. It's not so much the sports, but the atmosphere I'll miss most of all.
But I do have some good memories I'll take with me, and they're not all sports related. Okay, most of them are, but that's a different column that I wrote back in August.
I'll never forget being in the Marriott Center Feb. 7, 1993 as a fireside address by President Howard W. Hunter turned into a terrorist threat. Luckily, Cody Judy's bomb threat turned out to be false, but there's nothing like having your life threatened to make you re-evaluate things.
I'll always remember my experience playing in various orchestra's here. The experience of playing a concert on the DeJong Concert Hall stage is something I will never forget. Even better was when BYU presented 'La Boehme' and I was privileged to play in the pit orchestra. I have loved that opera ever since.
Perhaps my greatest memory of BYU -- and the one that will stay with me forever -- is the friends I have made here. Where else could I have met people from Pennsylvania, California, Virginia, Washington and exotic Salt Lake? Certainly not going to the University of Missouri back home.
It's these friendships that remain after everything else has faded away. Long after my diploma is lying in a dust-covered box, I will be able to pick up the phone and call up one of my friends to see how they're doing. My friends have helped me get through the hectic and often stressful experience we all call 'getting an education.' They are my strength and they are my legacy as well.
I hope as I venture out into the job market and attempt to again find my niche that I will never forget where I came from. When people ask where I went to school, I will be proud to tell them I went to BYU. It's not just my alma mater, it's part of who I am.
I am and always will be a Cougar.