Reminiscing...

I miss Gordon. 

I miss the days I’d walk through Chase Hall listening to Bollywood music on my iPod in an attempt to salvage any sanity I might have left after trying to make sense of my summers in India. I miss cramming to get last-minute assignments done and out the door, into the hands of the professor who assigned them (usually weeks or even months in advance and knowing full well that most of his or her students were lined up at the printer in the library egging on the printer to print five minutes before the assignment was due. “I work well under pressure.” Yeah. We all do.) 

I miss Platelet and her drive to be a better person, a better Christian, a better friend, a better artist, a better student. I miss the banter between Megs and Dreme about this particular professor or that particular assignment. And I really miss that “ridiculously pleased with himself” look that Steve would get on his face after a church service or performing a particular piece of music well- or that look in his eyes when the air was warm and the skies full of fog and he would be dreaming of longboats and looting. I miss Evan’s incessant iming to do something fun and Jess’s crazy prank ideas and creative acronyms. I miss Finn walking around campus always without his shoes, and being tackled with hugs by Roo, Cheslea (yes, I typed “Cheslea” and I meant to) or Diana. I miss quiet nights with Jasmine over tea or loud nights over a Bollywood film (“Dil Chatha Hai”?). I miss studying with Marissa and spending hours making up our own translations of whatever we happened to be reading for German class. 

I miss being in an academically challenging environment, and being both required and inspired toward excellence- in politics, art, language and in Christ. I miss all of the randomness that I was witness to over my 4 years at Gordon- weird boys who always fenced on the quad, Medieval Massacres, bowling and formals, Dixie cups, giant Styrofoam panda bears, salt and pepper shakers glued to the ceiling of Gillies. I miss Professor Z’s contagious enthusiasm for great art, and his knowing smile and calm reassurance that whatever it is that I’m dealing with will too come to pass. I miss Charis and Irene and their passions and drives for where God has called them in their lives. I miss late night trips to Le Claymore for Promised Lands, studying in Emery or Not Studying in Jenks, and seeing Wood Hall across the quad from my window. I miss walking in the woods in the fall, skipping class to go to Captain Dusty’s or the MFA, and the thrill of a package slip. 

I miss Aron and Marc’s random stops in our room to solicit cookies or do the Michael Hand dance. I miss Kirk and Hannah and being witness to their godly relationship. I miss daytrips to Boston, Gloucester, Rockport or Maine and evening drives to Punjabi Dhaba and Burdicks. I miss the first warm days of spring where everyone and their mother skipped class in favor of a Frisbee and Singing Beach (“Frisbee Club: it’s Better Than Making Out”). I miss the beautiful drive to Singing Beach or the Cliffs, and the time that I spent there- Finn with his guitar, Jess with her grand jetes and the rest of us with brains too full to process anything else without an evening's respite on the ocean.

And I really miss that night we spent with the posse at Good Harbor Beach- I still have never seen a moon so big, so brilliant or so yellow.

I think what I really miss is each and every one of you I have known and loved over the past 4 years, and being in a place and time where I felt truly alive in Christ and my calling.

It’s not that I’m unhappy here, that where I am (geographically) isn’t beautiful or that I don’t feel called to my work at DFN. … its just that …je ne sais quoi…