It's that feeling when you're completely immersed in life, whether you're having the absolute best time with your friends or completely content and comfortable with your family. It's that feeling when you are wistful for the moment as it is happening. You long for it before it's actually gone. I have been feeling this a lot lately, and I think it's because I am realizing how fast everything is moving. I know everyone says "life moves so fast," at least my parents always do, but it really does. I still sometimes think of myself as a kid who just has to get the grades to get into college and then life will just magically happen for me the way that it's meant to.

But now I'm in college and supposed to be picking a path, a job, a career, and a life. It's a lot, but it's reality. So I think with all of this stuff constantly happening around us, we sometimes find ourselves grasping for the memorable moments in our lives before they're actually over.

Taking a late-night drive at the end of the summer, windows down, music playing: tell me that doesn't trigger some nostalgia for the present. When you're away at school the end of the year with friends who live far away who you know you won't see till next year, you find yourself missing them when they are still right in front of you.

That last day of freshman year when your room is all packed away and you know you're going to leave in the morning and everything will be a memory. That last high school sports game (for all my athletes out there) when you know the people whom you spent four years of your life with, probably longer, will no longer be a staple in everyday routine. Those best friends from home at that last hangout before everyone goes off to school. Even everyday moments like walking through campus or your hometown, and just being there, observing everyone and everything, can make you nostalgic for the present. It's moments like these that teach me the most but also tell me to enjoy it while it lasts because it definitely won't last forever.

I think everyone feels this at some point in their lives, but I'm going to narrow it down to my fellow college kids. The majority of us only have four years at this place that we call home away from home, and we need to make it last. Yes, education is why we are here, but we can't forget the people we meet and the experiences we have. Those are the things that stay with us when this life is just a series of stories we tell our grandkids. Be driven, ambitious, and formidable in your intentions, but don't forget to be young and dumb once in a while and make those memories you yearn for before they end.