MM: Calling All Toys R' Us Kids!

I really tried not to vent about this but I failed...

A few weeks ago I received a very solemn letter in the mail. “URGENT: Graduation Materials Enclosed” was stamped in red letters across the front, inciting a long, drawn out “NOOOOOOOOO” inside my head. As much as my friends and I have been saying we cannot believe we are seniors in college, I had never actually had to confront the official idea of it until that dreaded letter showed up in my mailbox. My fellow classmates also felt the pain of that horrible correspondence.

Where did the carefree summers of our youth go!? Why do we work instead of sleeping in every day and enjoying the sunshine? We’re not supposed to pay bills; that’s something grownups do! We’re not grownups! We’re supposed to use our money to buy clothes or movies or concert tickets or alcohol (because while we are not grownups we are 21 and can do such things!). How were we nervous, awkward freshman just yesterday and now we’re seniors having to confirm degree audits and actually think about what we need to do to graduate and leave college behind…FOR. EV. ER.? Cue the “I Don’t Wanna Grow Up, I’m a Toys R’ Us Kid” song.

When did we get so big we couldn't even fit on Big Wheels anymore?

To which I say, let’s not grow up! For now, anyways. Let’s enjoy these last couple weeks of summer in our respective locations and then unite at Loyola and live up our final months as kids yet to be thrown into the gauntlet that is the real world. We’ve had our small taste of it, and for the most part it is not very delicious. Kind of tastes like the most disgusting vegetable you can think of (for me: beets).

Then and Now: These clowns are still livin' it up 3 years later; why shouldn't you?

So do not pass up any opportunities to bask in the glory of being young and not completely responsible yet. If you’re ever torn on whether you should go out or not, GO OUT. We don’t even have to resort to the cramped and smelly confines of Murphy’s or Craig’s anymore (though they, of course, will be frequented). If you find a day where you have nothing to do and you wonder if you should do some homework, DON’T DO THE HOMEWORK. Homework is for the night (or hour) before class. Do something fun instead. We have one year left to explore Baltimore and leave our mark on a city we have been living in for three years. Let’s not hold back. Who knows if we’ll all be together again? (Oh dear, that is depressing; I apologize. Who knows when we’ll all be together again?)

Love your friends.

I’m obviously not promoting failing out of school or getting fired from jobs or anything. I don’t want any of you working at McDonalds for the rest of your life (nothing against that fine fast-food establishment). I’m simply calling everyone to take a step back, realize that this is all the time we have left, and to not let it go to waste by stressing over work or grades or being a real person. We don’t have to be real people quite yet. But when that time does come, I’m sure you’ll all own it.

Okie doke, gotta go slice some deli meat all day so I can fund this upcoming year of fun.

Peace out!
Meag