Monday, April 19, 2010

Wish in One Hand....

Every day I have to walk behind the art school to get from the parking deck to my office and vice versa. Now that the weather has warmed up you can usually find some of the art students, paint and clay bespattered, lounging around.

One day last week there was a girl out there, her blanket spread out on the little grassy hill behind the building. She was sitting there, elbows on her knees, dress pulled up to maximize the sun exposure, cigarette dangling from her fingers. And y'all, it looked like Heaven. Now, I don't smoke so it wasn't that I was jealous of. It was her freedom.

She had no where to go, no one to whom she was responsible. I mean, of course this is purely conjecture on my part. She could have five kids waiting on her at home for all I know. But she just looked so free.

And for the first time in ages I wanted to go back to college, to those heady spring days when we'd find a sunny spot on North Campus to take a nap read for classes. The feeling of the warm sun on your bones, knowing that you could stay there as long as you want, with only the passing voices of other students to disturb you.

Don't get me wrong, I love my family. But if I would love to have just one of those afternoons back.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Me too! Or the last day of finals of Spring semester. That's when I always felt the most free. The work for the year was over and summer school hadn't started yet. It was warm and I had nothing to do but enjoy myself.

Fannie said...

I envy anyone who can be outside this time of year - whatever the reason!

Unknown said...

Me, too. Just the lazy, hazy days of almost-summer. Just me, a good book, some great tunes, and the sunshine. Ahhhh. A very relaxing thought indeed. :)

Burgh Baby said...

That is the absolute only good thing about having to travel a bit for work lately. I get one night of exactly that--no plans. It's pure bliss.

Suburban Turmoil said...

I LOVED college and miss it so much. I have a good friend from college who's single and just moved back to our college town and I'm so wanting to go visit her overnight and just pretend like we're in college again for one night. :)