Twenty-four hours before college I woke up in my bed at my house. So, pretty much like every other day for the last twenty years. It started about per usual with the everyday rituals that we all practice; breakfast, a shower, twenty minutes spent aimless on the internet. Nothing about that day screamed unusual. You know, except what the next day had. I was perfectly content with spending my last remaining hours at home gathering some small things that I had not yet packed for my dorm, just generally tying together loose ends before spending some time with some friends for the last time in longer than perhaps we’d like to admit.
But simplicity and convenience were not to be in the cards that day, as I would find out soon.
It started with a thought over breakfast. The kind of thought that was about to command my attention for the rest of the day. Because, whenever you’re on the verge of a big move or event or you have just started one in your life you almost always consider “What have I forgot?”
Now usually these hypotheticals result in remembering that you forgot to pack sunscreen or that you forgot to pack your friend Dave a turkey sandwich. Just pack your own sandwich, Dave. You’re an adult. The “What have I forgot?” thought that I have brought me to the realization that one of my textbooks may not be as complete as I thought. You know, as a college student you look for the cheapest way to buy your deplorably expensive textbooks which usually brings you to a website like Chegg or Amazon. I bought a new textbook on Amazon that was supposed to come with an online access code, but as I soon discovered, it absolutely did not. Oh boy. So after a fine 15 minutes of frantic typing, I was able to request a re-fund and I could print out a pre-paid label, but as nature had wrought, my printer immediatly forgot how to do it’s one and only nominal duty. After a frenetic trip to visit the public library I was able speed over to the UPS store while tearing off tape to secure the literary folly. Now I could catch my breath. I could go home and veg out, maybe go for a walk. After a brisk, universe contemplative walk I got back home and picked up the mail on my way up the driveway. The top in the stack of letters is addressed to me and it’s from the college. The one I’m moving to in a few hours. I rip it open and skim it to find, to my horror, that somewhere along the process, they had not recieved a certain piece of paperwork and that they may or may not need it like now. 12 hours before I was to move in. At this point I’m about to freak out. They won’t let me go. Tomorrow. Because of this paper. The day before college. I immediatly look for some kind of throw pillow (because they’re the best for throwing) for some release. Then a sort of frantic phone call to the school and to the place that had the information that I needed. Except it was just after 4. Nobody answered. It took 3 calls before I was able to get someone and when I pleaded my case with them I finally got ahold of someone in the department who told me in the most calm voice I've ever had the fortune to hear “Oh. You should be fine. It’s no big deal. Just get it in as soon as you can.”
..No big deal?
Turns out, it wasn’t. You see, that’s just how it works most of the time. Despite how dire things feel, they are rarely as bad as they seem. A lot went wrong on the last day before college, but here I am, at college. It’s easy to jump to conclusions when things go wrong. It’s just the way our brain works. Most things don’t come easy; and if you’re like me then sometimes it can feel like not much does. I’m sure most of all of us have had much worse last days before college. Most of us that have felt that pit in our stomach when the situation goes sideways.
The Bull Moose himself Theodore Roosevelt once said “Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty...I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life. I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well.” Now ole’ Teddy may have been born into one of the richest families in New York, but the sentiment still holds. We all have days, weeks, or maybe years where we can’t catch a break, nothing goes right. It may seem trite saying if you keep pushing and keep move ahead even incrementally, you will make it out the other side, but that’s true too. Things are almost never as bad as they seem, not even on the night before college.
