"I wish there was a way to know you're in the good old days, before you've left them." -Andy Bernard, The Office
Probably one of the most relevant lines a TV character has ever spoken. They resonate with me so much, because I'm now a graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. A rigorous, sleep-depriving maelstrom of an experience that has made me a better reporter, writer, friend and hopefully person. The third and fourth titles are what's most important to me for this post though.
I came to this school expecting to make some friends, to be approachable and to learn from others' experiences. I didn't realize that those friends would become like family members. I didn't think that 10 months or even a month would fly by so quickly. I just didn't anticipate feeling such an enormous void in my heart for the breaking of the routines I had with these folks. I saw many of these people on a daily or at least weekly basis. We laughed, worked, cried, danced, drank and so many more things together. We experienced a variety of highs and lows, challenged and critiqued each other and demanded the best of each other through our work and through our advice.
As journalists we have to be adept at listening and asking questions. So in that way, these people are set up to be some of the greatest friends. They'll know what to say and are always extremely willing to listen. I count that as fortune and a blessing.
So in summation, I really hate time. Not Time, Inc. but the passage of days, weeks and months that seemed to come and go as quickly as a raging thunderstorm. I wish I could master it, wish I could tame it, I wish those moments that I wanted to last forever could in fact do so. I wish fatigue didn't make us underestimate and under-appreciate those times together because, "there's always next weekend."
But, we'll all get through our separations. We'll meet other people, make new friends and I'm certain I'll cross paths with a great deal of these individuals again, either through sheer serendipity or through rigorous planning and effort. I cherish the friends I had before this experience, of course, and I'm sure new ones will be great as well. But nothing will be like the time me and the CJS Class of 2013 had together, pursuing this career that we love so much.
