This is My Now

I can’t believe in just a few short weeks I will officially be a college senior! Yikes. In exactly two weeks, I will be in charge of my sorority’s recruitment. It feels like I just went through myself. (If you have seen my UT id, you would see I not only have hair 25 shades darker, 7 inches longer, but I look grown up compared to the bleach blonde child in my freshman picture). By the looks of security men and university employees, I must also look like the girl who is using her friend’s id to get into the TREC and UT sporting events. UNRECOGINZABLE. The past three years have been a blast, and have gone by so fast that many days are just a blur.

Yesterday I was playing around town in Knoxville in search of ADPi recruitment essentials and my best friends and I were talking about funny events that have happened over the years. Mixers, date parties (typically the funniest stories come from the epic fails), days spent at someone’s apartment where getting off the couch would be too much activity & nights on campus were karaoke and dragons are just an ordinary sighting. One event in particular always seems to come up during these conversations.

For those of you who are not aware of my outrageous life, let me fill you in on one very intriguing fact about me.

People feel like they can tell me anything.

This is real, it happened, no exaggerations. When I think about it, I still laugh. It happened on a chilly Fall day my freshman year of college. I remember this day perfectly because it has become a widely referenced event and piece of clothing in my wardrobe. I woke up every day freshman year like I was going to conquer the world. This particular morning I woke up and chose to wear a sweater. Not just any sweater, but a navy sweater with a large bright yellow duck right on the front. When I say large, I mean it took up the entire front of the sweater.  Thinking nothing about it, I scurried off to biology lab. After a long lab of having to play with weirdo dna stuff, I enter the bathroom to wash my hands. There is a girl at the other sink washing her hands. I don’t know her at all, so when she says, “That’s stupid” I am confused as to who she is talking to. I look up and reply, “What?” She looks me in the eyes and says, “Your sweater is stupid.” I laugh. Then she walks out of the bathroom. I giggled about it all day. Who was she? Why did she think it was okay to tell me that?! In case you were wondering, yes I am fully aware it is weird to bring a duck sweater to college. Did I wear it many times after that-yes I did. Everytime I played a little game, hoping I would see her again.

Ordinary days often turn into events we will never forget. As senior year is rapidly approaching I pray I enjoy every little duck sweater moment. I don’t want anything to pass me by. 

"Contentment is not the fulfillment of what you want, but the realization of how much you already have."

I have no idea where I will be after college or what I will be doing with my little life, but tonight the one thing I know for sure is I have never felt so blessed and content with where I am right now, This is my Now. Thanks J.Sparks. 

-SJP