College Daze

There's a phenomenon in the Mormon world I like to call "home from BYU for the summer." Pretty inventive term, I know. The college kids come home for summer to remind the rest of us how old we are. It's been fun having them around though. They give the ward a nice lift.

But now they're headed back to Zion, along with several kids just leaving home to be freshman at the Y.

I'm not prone to nostalgia, but I had a flash of it today - mixed with some envy - saying goodbye to the BYU bound today at church. They're planning their dorm room decor, excited about their roommates and their class schedules and I couldn't help but miss those days a little. Which is funny, since I didn't appreciate them when I was in them. I hated the dorms. And I was so focused on graduating and going on a mission that I didn't savor college much.

128 credits were required to graduate. I had 130 and was done in 3 1/2 semesters (with an 18-month gap in the middle for the mission).

I didn't linger. I should have. Things may have turned out differently. Better even?

Why am I always in such a hurry to get on to the next thing in life?