I've lived in our town for almost as long as I lived in my hometown. I remember when my own mother said the very same thing about the town where she and my dad raised my brother and me. I was 11, and the thought that those oh-so-important years would some day be only a memory of a mere fraction of my life was unfathomable. Yet, here I am.
I moved here to escape the scary and overwhelming "culture shock" that I experienced during my first year in college. As a freshman, I had insisted on going directly to The University rather than spending a year or two in a smaller junior college closer to home. My mom, my brother, and my stepdad loaded all of my most precious belongings into my mom's Oldsmobile and helped me move six hours away into a dorm that housed more inhabitants than my hometown did. After a year of trying to adjust, I decided to collect as many semester hours as possible so that I could transfer to an upper-level 2-year campus closer to home. Here, the average student age was 30. I was 19. There were only a handful of us "traditional" students, and we tended to stick together. We had our share of parties, late night card games with beer and pizza, and weekend road trips. But even still, I've always felt like I missed out on the "college experience."
Today, that little 6-building, 2-year campus is a growing 4-year university with a multitude of degree options, including a doctoral program. Men's and women's basketball, baseball, softball, tennis, golf, volleyball, track and field, and soccer teams compete in the NCAA and the ASC. The fine arts complex hosts a Distinguished Lecture Series and a Performing Arts Series and a Broadways Series. There are sororities and fraternities. It has become a real university.
Our home is located only a few blocks from the university. From our back porch, we can hear the carillon announce each quarter-hour. Every Saturday morning, my jogging route includes a stretch of road that ambles beside the campus border. Alex's favorite outing during the spring and summer months is to feed the ducks that live on the lakes between the library and the University Center, and we often ride our bicycles along the cross-country trails, stopping to watch the baseball and softball teams practice in the evenings.
In a way, I feel like I've managed to recapture a little bit of the university experience that I felt lacking in my younger years.
It's even better without midterms.
1 comments:
My parents were really in love with Tyler, Tx. I think they might have moved there if I hadn't needed them here in Cali. So I had been asking people about it, and everyone says it is a really great place to live.
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