Reelin’ In the Years

If you are a consistent reader of The Beautiful Penn State blog, you may be wondering which direction I plan on heading in this blog post; the erratic squirrels that seem to define our home or the perpetual exhaustion all of us college kids seem to face. Luckily, I do address both of those topics, albeit in a less direct manner than is typical of my posts.

This morning’s bike ride to my biology class was a little chilly and windy, but maybe something about the cologne I chose or the breakfast I had seemed to clear the haze and allow me to feel a little less fatigued. Being aware for once, I realized all of the kids around me seemed to be more drained. Knowing my friend would be equally tired, being a student athlete and all, I elected to chain my bike to his electric scooter as a harmless, if mildly inconvenient, prank.

Walking into class, he was nearly asleep in his seat; yet still saved the seats beside him for James and I. Jerking awake at the sound of us awkwardly squeezing past the people occupying the outer seats, Mac broadly smiled, indicating at least some appreciation of our presence.

Consequently, I showed him the picture of my bike lashed to his scooter, resulting in us both bursting out laughing, partially at the sheer stupidity of it but mostly because of how much better it made us feel.

Now, I know you’re wondering about the squirrels in this post. Unfortunately, I have been too focused on my dog’s birthday (a year old!) to worry about the other furry creatures that make home what it is. Luckily, I have more pictures of my little man from the last year than I have pictures of anything else.

This image, posted on my Instagram story alongside the song “Don’t Let the Good Life Pass You By” by Mama Cass, was from about two months after I got him, a long time ago in retrospect. Coming to terms with the fact that he is getting older means recognizing my own aging and the similar passing of time. That is a lot to deal with, especially because of how young and invulnerable we, or at least I, like to think we are.

They say that college and life will pass us by if we don’t slow ourselves down, but they neglected to tell us exactly how to do that. My childhood consisted of “Life is what we make it” this and “Are you taking control of your life?” that, but what about the ways we can actually make that our reality? Music has been my primary means of keeping my head on, but animals and friends seem to do a pretty good job of that as well. This morning’s shenanigans, following my first dog’s first birthday, made me aware of how quickly time has been going recently; we’re already halfway through the semester! What I wonder is not how your life is what you make it, because it’ll be what it’ll be, but are you reelin’ in the years?