This getting older thing causes a lot of nostalgia. It really does. I’m not sure where it comes from sometimes, but it seems to creep into my life daily. The years are marked by “big moments,” and some of them come barreling along, and some sneak in quietly. Lately, it seems every time I turn around, something is changing.
First, my son got his driver’s permit. It’s exciting, but it’s one of those aspects of your life that makes you say, “I remember just yesterday he was dancing to the Wiggles.” Jeez. He’s months away from driving and two years away from college. How did we get here so fast?
Second, my daughter is about to finish her eighth grade year and become a high school student. Again, blink, and there you are. One minute she was carrying on shenanigans at her preschool, and now she’s getting ready to join the ranks of a high school freshman. She even knows where she wants to go to college. (I’ll keep that to myself, because we all know, girls are prone to change their minds.)
Third, at Stevenson University, I’ve spent 16 years teaching on the Greenspring campus, which is the original campus of Villa Julie College before we expanded and experienced so much growth under our President, Kevin Manning. As our university has boomed, and as we have expanded to three campuses, our department of Business Communication is moving to Owings Mills North into the new, state-of-the-art Academic Center. It’s bittersweet. Of course, you want to stay current and move with the times, but the Greenspring campus has been the setting of my working days for so many years now (below is a picture of the Greenspring campus).
To blink = change.
You can be nostalgic, but you can’t hang on to it. You are constantly moving and changing even when it appears you are standing still. You have to roll with it, embrace it, and realize you have to live in the present. Living in the past rarely does anyone good.
I typically do well with change, and often look forward to it. I just needed a moment to remember what was.
Now, on to what will be.
