Brookens

Well, I'm sitting on the fourth level of Brookens Library on the campus of the University of Illinois at Springfield, a place I haven't been in a long time. I came up here quite a bit when I was in school and needed to get away to read. Just a few steps away is the computer I wrote a ridiculous number of pages for a paper that was due just a few hours after I was sitting there writing it. It's definitely October just outside the window I'm sitting next to. The leaves have turned and a drizzle of rain that has fallen for the last two days continues on, and it doesn't appear that it will be stopping anytime soon.

Heather suggested I go to campus today. I thought I would just see a few people, maybe a professor or two, and just take in the campus that I spent so much time on. I gotta tell you, it feels weird to think I'm not here anymore. Seems like I could still be living in Lincoln Residence Hall, going to class an evening or two a week to talk about politics, or maybe I should be practicing to lead worship tonight at the Edge. But the truth is I'm not doing that anymore. I haven't done it in nearly a year now. A year?! Yes, a year. I know for everyone else outside of my body, that is easy to believe. In my head though, after doing those things for 4 years, one year isn't enough to pull out of the routine I am used to.

Heather tells me I wish I was still in college.

Sure, I miss those things. I think back on all of that and I love it. They were great times. That was a great part of my life. But it doesn't mean I want to be back there again. I feel like I could be still there because I am so used to it, but I've accepted I'm not there anymore. I have a completely different life now. I have a wife. I have a wife! And she's beautiful. And I wouldn't trade the present for the past for anything.

I know over time college will seem longer and longer ago. But I bet it will always feel like yesterday.

Gosh, I love this campus.

Thanks for putting up with my less-than-normally-reflective self.

Later guys,
Matt