back to blacksburg
i’m leaving tomorrow for a weekend trip to blacksburg, virginia. when i was a student at virginia tech, blacksburg was my home away from home, and i can’t wait to go back. it was there that i ate my first $5 macados hindenberg sub, and trained a weanling foal, and met my fiance, and learned that i could survive living 5 hours away from my family and friends. for, perhaps the first time in my life, it was there that i felt independent and free and scared out of my mind.
when my alarm went off on the first morning of classes, i had a moment of shocking realization. i could go back to sleep and no one would wake me up. in fact, i could miss every single one of my classes; i could drink until i was sick; i could walk alone after dark; i could do all of the things i wasn’t allowed to do a few days prior; and no one would care. my life was suddenly my own responsibility.
for that reason, blacksburg is the place that i will always associate with my learning to becoming an adult. sure, there were a few bumps along the road — that crazy basement halloween party, and that ill-advised road trip in the bed of eric’s truck, and let’s not forget the night we had to call 911 for my roommate — but i came through through it all fine (as did my roommate), and i left blacksburg a changed person.
i go back to remember all of this and more.
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