Cowboy for Life

This past Thursday Andrew and I happened to wind up in Stillwater. I don't know what it is about that place that just brings a since of calm to me. It might be because that's really where my life began. I spent most of my life trying to figure out who I was and who I wasn't. It was hard for me to find my place because I am nothing like those in my family. I had plans and dreams for my life, not just doing the minimum to get by. I knew that I only have one chance at life and that I needed to make the most of it. So, naturally, off I go to college. OSU made me grow up. I had to learn how to function as an adult. I fell in love in Stillwater and then I put that love to the test. I had breakdowns and I got tougher. I discovered friends and then I learned what a true friendship was. I discovered that I wasn't the best at things like I had grown up believing. I came to terms that I was, in a sense, mediocre and I think that I'm ok with that. I wish that I could think of one thing that I excel at and I haven't found that yet. I would like to think that I will excel at being a parent just because I know what not to do and I see what others do that I would do differently.

OSU led me on some great adventures. I pushed myself to the limits and grew as an individual. I met a lot of great people and a few who were not so great. There are some friendships that have lasted and some that haven't or aren't as strong as I would like them to be. I wish I could remember more from my college years but they were all really just a blur, and no, this was not from drinking because I really didn't party much in college. College just flew by and I should have enjoyed it while I was there, but you can't change the past and it isn't good to dwell on it.

Some of my most memorable moments in college are as follows:

• Band practice one day when there was a torrential downpour and we had to stay out and march and were soaked to the bone and made a mad dash when they finally called off practice and we all left huge puddles in the elevators in the dorms.
  
• Laura going ballistic with her alarm and just seeing an orange blur bounce around the room.
  
• Laura freezing my toothpaste because she left the window open.
  
• Laura and her fantastic apple!
  
• Watching "Bill Cosby Himself" after the girls had made dinner for all of our friends.
  
• Braving yet another tsunami of rain my junior year and fighting the raging rapids on the roads trying to get back to my apartment.
  
• Picking Aleithia up and heading over to Stout and sneaking our laundry in so we could wash it there and "study" while watching "Lost" with Carrie.
  
• Thinking that Andrew was breaking up with me when he kicked me out of my apartment just so he could decorate it and send me on a hunt for him when he finally proposed.
  
• Countless Friday nights when I was half drained from working and hanging out with Carrie and Aleithia.
  
• Graduation, even if I didn't get to watch Aleithia walk because I had to high-tail it back to my apartment to get ready to walk for myself!
  
• Movie Extravaganza!!
  

All in all, college was a great experience, I just wish I got to experience more. OSU changed me and help make me into the person that I am today and I suppose I wouldn't change it. I don't remember who said it but they said it correctly about band members: "If you weren't a fan of OSU before joining band, then you will be when you're done." I'll bleed orange until the day I die and God help my children!