What Happens in Mabee, Stays in Mabee

With eleven days left in the States, I knew that saying goodbye to certain people would be hard. I think it’s pretty obvious that I will miss my friends, boyfriend, and family a lot. So when I offered to help my roommate Heather move into her new room this weekend, I knew I’d have a hard time leaving her and my boyfriend Steven to go back home. What I didn’t expect was how hard it would be to leave not just the people but the place itself.

Heather moved into her new room on the first floor of the dorm we stayed in last year (Mabee). Being in the same building and moving her in gives me the feeling that I’m moving in as well. I’ve had to continuously remind myself that it’s not “our” room anymore, it’s “her” room. They are no longer synonymous and it’s taking me forever to move past that. But there’s a distinct smell about Mabee that makes me miss the set up I had last year. Heather and I had a second story room with lots of windows and we shared our space with some of the most amazing girls I’ve met here. I have yet to figure out how I scored the rooming jackpot but I truly got lucky with my housing situation last year. It’s so weird to think that Mabee isn’t my dorm any more, that I won’t be living with those girls this year, and that Heather won’t be my roommate again for a long time.

What’s weirder than all those things is walking around campus in the 105 degree heat (which, by the way, is actually pretty manageable with all the shade and the wonderful lack of humidity) and knowing that I won’t be back till January. That next time I’m here, it will be freezing cold, possibly snowy, the squirrels will have gone away, and the reality of the change that will have taken place will be hitting me. Steven will be in China, Heather will have survived her first semester as an RA while taking a billion hours and still maintaining her spot on the Dean’s List, and my Quad 230 girls will be in Sophomore apartments on a different part of campus. I don’t know where I’ll be living but it will certainly be different.

Since I’m here while Heather is in RA training and Steven is training his new RA’s, I’m stuck in Mabee till someone gets done. I brought a book and I’ve been borrowing Heather’s computer but there’s not much else to do. That being said, I have yet to be bored. Every minute I’m here makes me more thankful that I came. Now, I can enjoy my time on campus and say my “See You Later’s” to the squirrels and trees and buildings. I don’t leave for a few more days so I won’t worry about saying those other goodbyes just yet. But for now, I’ll enjoy the beautiful serenity that surrounds the Southwestern campus and be thankful that my dad gave me the option of “any school in Texas.” Thanks, Daddy!