So in a few hours I will be graduating from Canisius College and it is now, as I write this late-night post, starting to sink in.

Tonight I hung out with some friends as we watched TV at the 9-7 house, a place that was home to many college parties and hangouts that had uncontainable amounts of laughter and fun.  But tonight was different, I walked out and left not from a party, but just from a group of people sitting and just being in each other’s company.

It was the last time I will ever be in that house. The last time I will be in that environment to just watch TV, have a beer or two, or several and not have a care in the world.  Walking home, it has sunk in and I am sad.  But I know I shouldn’t be because there is something greater waiting for me within the next few days.

But how do you deal with the fact that a huge part of your life that has been amazingly fun, challenging, inspiring and full of wonderful growth and change? Simply remembering.

“Remember when…?” I always am an avid nostalgic person and now I get to add these past four years of amazing memories, a big portion being the 9-7, to my memories.

When I meet up with someone for lunch in ten years, when I run into someone unexpectedly in twenty years, when we attend a reunion in thirty years, I get to say, “Remember when,” knowing that we have shared some amazing experiences, funny mistakes, stupid decisions, overwhelming achievements and know that we have these beautiful memories to take with us in every new day that comes our way. We are together forever in our memories, and that is the greatest consolation of all.