The time in between

Back to school, back to the dorms, back to structured life.

I walked in and I almost cried. My first thought? Why the hell did I do this to myself? There was a memory in every corner, down every hallway, sitting in every chair, and in every room. Each one made a deeper cut into my heart, causing more pain then I thought it would. I can't think straight, because it seems like every second I'm occupied with noticing places and things that remind me of last year. Its bringing the reality that everything has changed back to the surface.

I have never been afraid of change, in fact I am the kind of person who embraces and actually desires change. I can never be in the same place and schedule for more than a few months, and I can never sit still for more than ten minutes. But this time, I'm finding it a little harder to accept.

Its strange how everything can change in one summer. William Carlos Williams said, "In Summer, the song sings itself." That could not be more true. What I thought I had control over, completely took hold of itself. This summer was supposed to hold so many things. I was supposed to lose weight, finish my book, and work as much as possible. I left no room for fun, friends, or anything that would make me remotely happy. And it also left no room for anything that would make me sad. But it wasn't living. This summer, I lived.

And now... Now that I'm back, I am forced to remember things that I had chosen to forget. I am facing my fears, and living with old skeletons that had been pushed into the back of the closet. Every single time I retell what happened this summer, to those who do not yet know and deserve to find out, it creeps back into my mind like a virus that will never leave. I am haunted by a memory, and I am completely alone.

Those were my feelings when I stepped back into B building on that day. I breathed it in, and it all came flooding back. A mixture of memories leading to a bittersweet end. Every single one of us affected each other in some different, and mostly strange way. When you come to a completely new life, the people you attach yourself to first are the ones who have the most impact. They will, for better or for worse, change you. And it is because of this, that I will always remember that time. We are all linked by this secret, one hidden deep inside that summer, buried away behind the beach trips and late nights, one we don't want to remember, but always will. There is an unspoken grief, no one wants to mention aloud, that lingers all around these halls. Yet we all know, we all remember. I know this feeling is mutual for everyone else who stepped into this building once again on that day. I can see it in their eyes, and I know they see it in mine.

I am different, everything is different, and everyone here is different. and it hurts to see it all in front of me, something I chose not to think about until I could see it. Sometimes when its quiet, and I have a moment to breath in the silence, I think about how we were, how we are now, but mostly, about the time in between. So many things brought us all to this point, and for some reason, a reason which has been mapped out by someone much higher than ourselves, we are all back here, together, in the same spot with different lives. That is the only positive. We don't have to face it alone.