Friday Fun Finds {8/12/11}

Friday Fun Finds is being dedicated today to show you photos.  They are photos from a long time ago, and I randomly found them on my computer.

Welcome to Sessums Hall circa August 2004.

I want to introduce y'all to my home away from home from 7 years ago. Yep, that would be mine and Anna's room from our freshman year of college. {It's hard to tell because we used this same bedding for FOUR years!}.  I cannot believe it's been 7 years.



Seven years since we were preparing to leave our hometown in Mississippi to head to Starkville.

Seven years since we "helped" our Mom's sew our bedding for our cute dorm.

Seven years since we shopped for all things black, white, and pink to bring with us.

Seven years since we loaded up our cars and left EARLY in the morning to arrive at Mississippi State.

Seven years...

Seven years since we were pulling up to Sessums Hall and flipping a coin for the top or bottom bunk.

Seven years since we lugged boxes up 6 flights of stairs to get to the 4th floor.  The Sessums "Penthouse."

Seven years since we spent ALL day unpacking and getting things just like we wanted them.

Seven years since we said goodbye to Mom and Dad as they prayed over us for protection, wisdom, and guidance. 

Seven years since we spent our first night away from our parents all grown up and off to college.

Seven years...

Seven years since meeting new friends like Bethany, Laura, Whitney, Katherine, Annie, Laura, Amy, and Nicole all of who lived near us in Sessums.

Seven years since many nights spent on the T-wing of the second hall in and out of Annie & Laura's room, Whit & Morgan's room, and Bethany's room.  The T-wing was the place to be!

Seven years since starting rush and being intimidated to walk into the houses.

Seven years since going Greek and loving my sorority and the friends that I gained from it.

Seven years since our very first parties, swaps, concerts, and football games.

Seven years....

Seven years since meeting my best friends.

Seven years since being giddy about the new opportunities {and being homesick}.

Seven years since we locked Bethany out of her room in a towel and thought it was hilarious.

Seven years since we started pulling all night study sessions because we'd procrastinated.

Seven years....

Seven years of laughs and memories.

Seven years of the best friends a girl could ask for.

Seven years of valleys and mountaintops, but having the friends there every second!

Please prepare yourself. I have a case of my annual "I miss being an undergrad in college" August blues.  They come every year. They arrive around August 5th {ish} and last until a couple of days after Sorority Bid Day at which point, I realize how much I love my life and couldn't imagine anything better.  But for today, in the midst of the blues, I think I'll wallow.  I mean, reminisce.

On Wednesday, we moved my sister in law to Mississippi State.  I lined drawers and put together shelving units while her Mom hung curtains and helped organize.  And in that hustle and bustle, I was having so much fun!  Then we went to lunch, and I realized the moving in was done.  It was time for Danielle to start living her own life at Mississippi State. Time for her to make her friends and write her own chapter in her own book.  It wasn't my time. Mine passed 7 years ago.  And I was sad.

I considered going back to Danielle's room with her, telling her roommate that she had to leave, and I'd be taking her spot.  I was seriously wanting to move in my sister in law's dorm.  I text one of my friends that I would gladly give up being married to David if I could go back to being a freshman again and know, without a doubt, that David and I would wind up together and married 6 years later.  {I can't believe I just admitted that on my blog}.

She responded, "you would not."

And I guess, she's right. Kind of. At least, if it were not August 5th {ish} to August 15th she would be.

I think that everyone, at some time or another, wants to go back and do college.  I wouldn't change much, but there are a few things.  And you all know what I'm talking about.  Surely there isn't a person that wouldn't want to go back, if only for a couple of days, to college.  I really just would like to be a fly on the wall in my freshman dorm room to watch the events unfolding.  To know the end result of the friendships that were forming.

I wish I could whisper to my freshman self, "Hey, you see that girl over there? Her name is Bethany, and you two are going to be the best of friends. She's going to get you through some really tough times."  Or, "You see that boy in Chemistry Lab? Memorize his face, get to know him, but don't date him yet. You'll marry him one day."

I'd also tell myself to steer clear of a few certain "toxic" people.  Amazing how even when your alarms are going off inside of you, you don't take note and listen.

I'd tell myself to not be consumed with relationships.  The only relationships I needed to worry about as a college freshman were those with my friends.  I would tell myself to drink up every minute with them because something goes on in a freshman's head and they don't realize they will not live in the same town together after four years. And no matter what people say, it will not be the same.  No one can recreate a dorm or sorority house. No one. I'd make sure to remind myself that I could go hang out, and studying could wait.  A 100 was an A, but so was a 90.  Don't miss out on the fun opportunities because you're consumed with studying. I didn't do anything on school nights until October. And that was outrageous.

I'd tell myself not to leave early from the Mississippi State vs Florida home game in 2004 no matter how tired or hot Bethany and I were.  I'd also tell myself not to go home every weekend. Or cry at all over the fact that I'm not at home.  I'd mention that Diamond Girls and Orientation Leader would be two of my very favorite things ever, but it might be wise to get a sub for Diamond Girls Super Bulldog of my freshman year.  Just because.

Not that it would be weird at all standing in Sessums Hall in 2004 hearing from a talking fly on the wall...

Isn't this reality though. Everything I listed above has to do with knowing the end of the story.  Knowing how things would wind up in the end.  I have the benefit now of knowing what is going on in August 2011. At the time, I had no clue.  And we never know the way that God is going to make things turn out. Ever. It makes me realize how important it is to listen to Him right now, in THIS instant.  It's also the reason that I should be living in the present day and not in the past.  I'm constantly reminded by those around me that if we're constantly looking back or looking forward, we cannot fully enjoy the moment that God has planted us in.

And so I trust in the one that made me and created me in His image.  Knowing that my college days were an amazing PART of my life and not the ONLY part of my life.

At first I had typed this lyrics as a reminder of college and how quickly it is gone, but they seem ever more applicable to today as well.

"You're gonna miss this

You're gonna want this back

You're gonna wish these days

Hadn't gone by so fast

These are some good times

So take a good look around

You may not know it now,

But you're gonna miss this"

So excited to just live vicariously through my sis in law this week though!  She's going through recruitment right now as we speak, and I'm excited to see what God has planned for her days at Mississippi State!