It's merely goodbye, goodnight, good morning

So it's the last day of classes. Our last lectures, or final discussions and our last chance to nap on someone else's time. We have finals, term papers, presentations and reports. Then, we're done. But while we've all had varying experiences, myriad of majors, oops, that's concentrations, and many differing routes, there are some telling truths about college life, especially here where we're all the leaders and the best.

Sarah Lockyer Locked and Loaded

We've all danced to cheesy music and secretly loved every second of it. We've said things that we shouldn't have in the presence of those who wouldn't have. And we haven't said things we should have in the presence of those who could have. We've eaten at The Earle and The Gandy Dancer. We've slobbered at Subway and Burger King.

We've drank at Dominick's, revealed too much at Rick's and tagged along to Touchdown. We've gotten messy at Mitch's, with Jerry of course, we've gotten silly at Scorekeepers. And then we brought all of that to someone else's house party.

We cheered our Victors to a national championship and shivered with our hockey team straight into the record books. We were sobered by the harsh reminders of young life lost, quickly and quietly. We have ex-boyfriends, ex-girlfriends and maybe even both. Ex-roommates, ex-pledge brothers, ex-pledge sisters, ex-housemates. Ex-lovers, ex-hook-ups, ex-friends. Ex-teammates, ex-coaches, ex-fans. We all have watched too many movies at three in the morning and have slept through too many classes. We have drank too much, done too many drugs and definitely spent too much money.

We have paid so many bills and overdrawn our account at least once. We have ran a tab too high and skirted along on someone else's paycheck.

We have that random road trip and the all-too-prevalent boredom. We have cars and bars, chicks and tricks, guys and lies.

We have graduated from cheesy baby tees to chic BeBe tops, from forgettable flannels to fashionable button-downs. We have surpassed the seeming difficulty of a five-page paper and we have managed to never manage time management. We have received honors in just getting by and a spot on the Dean's list in last minute lies. We've all worked hard but played hard too, and that's the best thing about the U.

We all have our many friends, our manic Massermans, our joking Joshs, our cocky Cohens. Our zanny Zieglers and our special Schweigers. We have our silly Seths and our sarcastic Stolers. We all have our meticulous Mikes and our bewildered Bens. We have our caring and cunning Karens and our enigmatic and excellent Emmas. We all have our Lisas and Leslies, our Meghans and Michelles. But these aren't the ones who we will miss. Instead we'll miss those who we only see once in awhile in Angell Hall and always promise to call, those with whom we have unfinished business and those who we always wanted to welcome, but never did.

There will be other bars, longer lines and more expensive drinks. But even for those who won't admit it, let's face it, there will never be another Rick's.

But this really isn't the end, nor is it the beginning - it's simply a step, just like all of the others. We walked in the Diag and stumbled down South U, crossed the bridge to the Hill and hopped a bus to North Campus, walked to the Big House and ran at the Arb.

Now, we'll be walking down Fifth Avenue, Lake Shore Drive or M Street.

We'll be strolling down a path in Zimbabwe, an unpaved road in Latin America, a trail in Europe. We'll be skiing the slopes of Aspen, flying across the globe and swimming in the ocean. We'll be chilling at home, helping others and making money.

We will all graduate, we will all eventually go to bed and we will all wake up in the morning. So I guess it's merely goodbye, goodnight, good morning.

- This is Sarah Lockyer's final column. She can be reached over e-mail at slockyer@umich.edu.

04-20-99