By Sara Tirrito
City desk editor
Recently we got a tiny taste of fall – slightly cooler temperatures, leaves blowing down the street. It was just enough to bring back the nostalgia that this particular season always seems to carry with it, the memories that come out of nowhere, the longing to shift back in time or to a place we haven’t been in awhile.
It made me realize there are a lot of lessons to be learned in college, but not just lessons from books and professors – lessons about life and priorities, friendships and family.
Fall always makes me miss the best and simplest parts of life: fishing at the lake with my parents before the sun even came up, walking through the local park back in Texarkana with my best friend, family time at home, home itself.
It’s funny, though, how in so many of those moments I had no idea what cherished memories they would become.
Leaving even those simplest parts of life to come to college made me realize just how much they were worth. Yes, my college years so far have their own slate of memories, many of which are just as special as those I made back home.
But leaving behind that first set of memories makes you realize that nothing can ever quite replace them.
Now going home has taken on a whole new value. Whether it’s for a weekend or a month, getting the chance to relive old memories and make new ones is more precious than it ever has been. I’ve stopped taking for granted those tiny things about my old life that made it everything it was.
But by that same token, the nostalgia has taught me a lot about appreciating where I am now, and appreciating the people that I am so blessed to have in my life every day.
We’re told so often that these college years are “the best years of our lives,” but they only can be if we make them so. Each day there are memories we’re making, many of which we won’t recognize or appreciate until they are long gone. It’s easy to start taking for granted being able to see our friends every day, or the small moments that make each day worth waking up. But if we can learn from what we’ve left behind, and begin to appreciate what we have when we have it, that can only make each day a more precious memory.
Sara Tirrito is a junior journalism major from Texarkana and is the Lariat’s city desk editor.
