The game was great. State beat Wake Forest 38-3, but the score and the action were only pinpoints in the weekend. This trip was more about catching up with old friends and calling each other out for how we used to be…and re-living certain aspects of our old selves.
We’ve all been through a lot since then. Every year since has been a tally-mark in the age column and a step forward in maturity, but through everything, we pick up where we started as kids in college ready to tackle the world. Our only problems then were finding out where to go and what to do every night. The drama wasn’t finding and keeping a job, but dealt with who was dating who and if this party was worth going to over that one. And we thought THAT was hard…
The main difference between then and now, though, is that in 2003, we were all in the same boat. We were starting school, confident, and nothing was jaded. We lived in the same building and we came together as a family at the start of COLLEGE, where no matter what “they” say about class, you’re gonna learn more about YOURSELF than anything else as you go through the process.
Now we’re all in different places and points of our lives. Some are married, some are back in school, some are states away, and some have big kid jobs. Regardless of where we are, though, we had that first year, and we went through one of the biggest one-year leaps of personal change together: the transition of being a freshman to being a sophomore. People came into and left our group as we moved forward in the next few years. Younger folks joined up and some moved away, but we stayed close, and whether we see each other every day or once every four years, the gap apart is easily closed, and it’s just like running into each other by the entrance of Owen Hall between class or at Fountain for a meal.
So this weekend was great. It was a break from everything of today and a true trip down memory lane. I’ve been wearing nostalgia like cologne lately. Like cologne temporarily covers up the fact that I didn’t shower today (no shame), nostalgia brings back the past in a way that you can hear it and feel it, but you’re not THERE. I can see it, but I can’t cover up the fact that as always, time is flying forward and those days are over (just like I won’t be able to cover the non-shower smell much longer…gross).
Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE where I am today and I’m super-happy with life. But the memories I hold on to are what brought me to this point, so I’ll always have a soft spot for those times.
Raleigh is different now, and there’s something new every time I go back. Hillsborough Street is a living juxtaposition of the past and the future, with its run-down shops and restaurants but futuristic airport runway of lights and automatic parking meters. It’s fancy, but the roundabouts suck. Downtown has LINES in front of bars now, and Carter-Finley Stadium hosts a winning Wolfpack team.
Faces are different everywhere we go, but for ONE weekend, we owned the city again, brought back 2003, and made it our HOME.
I love you guys, and I can’t wait until we do this again, wherever and whenever that may be.
Drew
Freshman year:
Saturday Night:
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