Time flies when you’re having fun

Sarah Muir
MSM Class of 2018

(5/2016) Grace Kelly, who is one of my role models, once said, "I avoid looking back. I prefer good memories to regrets."

Unlike Princess Grace, I cannot help but look back; not at regrets though or mistakes (because let’s face it, they are inevitable so there’s no use crying over spilled milk), but rather, I look back on everything that has happened to bring me to today. As a little kid, I remember being excited to grow up, thinking that every day dragged on and on. However, now I realize everything moves so fast, but we do not even notice what has passed us by until we turn around and see that, what’d ya know, you are an adult with responsibilities and life is still spread out before you.

Looking back, it seems to me that sophomore year started ages ago and yet it seems like only yesterday I was starting my first semester. Time is funny in that way. Nonetheless, no matter how much time has flown by, I can comfortably say I have enjoyed my two years at the Mount. A lot has happened. A lot has changed and will continue to change. Within the next month and a half, my older sister, Katie will be married, which is weird to think of because she still acts like a child. I am so excited for her, but this happiness is tinged with a bit of melancholy because I know that even though she will be living close by, she will no longer be right down the hall when I need her.

That is not the only thing that has changed; I think I have too. I have grown a lot, met new people, got a job, and I like to tell myself I have gotten smarter.

Right now, I am learning to juggle school, work, and time for my writing. So far, I think I am doing okay. I still have a ways to go until I have this whole "time management" thing down, but I am getting there. My newest job is at this small shop in downtown Frederick called the Pasta Pallet that sells handmade, dried pasta. It is a fun job at a unique store and even though I have only been working there a month, I have been enjoying it. The job both keeps me occupied and fuels my bouts of creative recipe making.

I still enjoy learning at the collegiate level; still enjoy reading and writing (obviously). I have discovered that my current catchphrase is "so far so good," when I am asked (excessively in my opinion), "how is school going?" It has become an automatic answer and, if I am honest, it is not a lie. School is going well and I am enjoying what is left of my spring semester. I am eager for summer, even though I am positively dreading the heat and humidity that comes with living in Maryland. However, I find myself less eager for junior year. Allow me to explain why. Junior year is when it starts to sink in, the reality of the real world; the world of taxes and mortgages and loans looms in the all-too-near future.

My mother always talks about the difference between eager and anxious. Eager is defined as wanting to do or have something very much. It holds a positive connotation, a type of optimistic excitement. Anxiousness, on the other hand, is the worry, unease, or nervousness one experiences about an imminent event with an uncertain outcome. This being said, even though I am anxious due to the fact that time flies, I am excited for my classes next semester. Three out of five are geared towards my major (English, if you are curious) and these very same classes are taught by my favorite professors. I hope that by next year, I will have a draft of that book I sometimes mention (the creation of which is painfully slow). I am planning on going to London for a Study Abroad program next spring, and am so excited that even thinking about it makes me want to jump up and down and squeal like a schoolgirl. Even though I am apprehensive as to what the future holds, I am excited to continue to learn and grow alongside my family here at the Mount.

As you can see and have probably realized on your own, there is a balance to all this. With the sour anxiousness of a somewhat uncertain future comes the sweetness of all the exciting and wonderful things to happen. I know that the future isn’t going to be all sunshine and rainbows, that it will be tough and at times, unfair; but I also know that there are so many beautiful things in the world and a whole heap of experiences just waiting to be felt. When I remember this, I find my previous uneasiness is forgotten and I am filled with a bright optimism.

Read other articles by Sarah Muir