Everything does happen in spring, particularly in Virginia with its famously schizophrenic weather. Take for example an early Thursday morning wherein I poked my head out of the Landings doorway like a gigantic groundhog, and saw the inexplicable: snow. Snow rained down, blowing sideways, and so did the torrent of surprised expletives that condensed in my voice box.
But, the weather is not the biggest issue anyone at Longwood University has with the Spring. It’s more that it’s the end of the year, and everything that will happen determines the passing of the guard, the movement of freshman to sophomore and senior to alumnus, is set in hard, bold letters in the spring. It seems to move more quickly, and there is that great sense of finality. Though the fall brings surprises, manifested out of nothing in the vacant summer, spring semester feels like one great goodbye where the seniors leave for life, and everyone else goes to Florida.
The spring leads us to go out to the bar more or sundry parties, encouraged by the warm weather to talk to people we don’t live with. We may even meet a cute partner and become what the wise owl in Bambi called twitterpated;It’s something to be smitten, platonically and not platonically in any sense.
I’ll say I’m anxious, ambivalent is a better word, and more so than I usually am. I’ve made the most of my senior year, enjoyed the kindness of society, and the difficulty of certain lessons. I’m nearly done with the trappings of undergrad life, all of the trappings. But, I’m still compelled by what’s around me. I’ve met friends and brothers that I want to know better, and that I really want to watch grow up. It’s a tedious sort of feeling, like what I imagine water feels going down the drain.
It’s not all bad. My time as a Longwood undergrad has not been perfect, but it has been fulfilling. The longer days of spring light up all the places in Farmville and on campus that I’ve been, and boy, have I been everywhere. The warmer weather makes me want to linger outside, and the fountains
seem less like scenery and more like important markers of place. The people I know are all out too. For perhaps purely biological reasons, the activity of spring happens and accelerates. When classes don’t drain you, you feel like going anywhere, shooting the breeze with anyone, and finding the possibilities in a resurrected world. But, sometimes, spring brings the foreshadowing of surprises. It brought, last year, President Finnegan’s illness; the precursor to his resignation. This year, it foreshadows massive changes in Farmville, including a new President of the university, the construction of new housing, and the replacement of a shopping center. New memories will be created and others will sail out of the window, lost in the litter of refurbishment. As surely as the cucumber plants in biology, when given the right nutrients, Farmville is budding and spreading out. Hanging out in the same flowerpot as Longwood.
The bad side of spring, the parts that make you feel contained and overwhelmed, are mostly the tests. I remember the laments of a History senior over his MFAT at the bar. He was flustered by the rigidity of the system, the fact that even with the grade curve he still might not pass. So much of his test material, he said, was never taught to him in class. After venting, we shared a toast and I left him, feeding that I related and a little afraid of what would happen soon.
I’ve got papers in every class, like many people, and the dreaded MFAT, but qualified to my major. I have applications to fill out, and housing to find. Spring has brought me, like everything else in some way, to a state of flux. I think I’ll succeed. The fights are common ones, and the insecurities insurance from taking your eyes off the goal.
I wonder sometimes if spring makes people feel happy. Perhaps all of this long day and sunshine has a boosting effect, and spring is important in and of itself. I don’t know if I’ve always seen it happen. Perhaps, we need to call on Mr. Heat Miser first and have him take out all of the cold mornings us Lancers so despise.
