MEGHAN GUATTERY
Managing Editor
It’s 10:12 p.m. on Sunday, April 24. This From the Desk of is due in less than two hours, and I’ve probably rewritten it six or seven times. Yet, no one would expect any less from me. Everyone knows I’ll get it done and meet my deadline.
I always do.
This could very well be the very last piece I ever write for The Leader — save for the many letters to the editor I intend to bother the future executive board with — and it has taken me nearly a week to get any words onto this Google Doc.
It’s not that I don’t have anything to say. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. There aren’t enough lines in the paper to thank all of the incredible people I’ve met or to reflect on the memories, both good and bad, I’ve made with them in the last four years.
I’ve been saying all semester that I’ve been choking back tears thinking of all the things that will change come May 14. It seems like that’s just what everyone expects.
But, honestly, I’m just not one for sap.
And I have realized that I don’t need to write this for myself; I don’t need it. I know that all of the amazing people I’ve met and memories I’ve made are just stepping aside — not going away — to make space for more.
So this is for everyone who sees the upcoming commencement as a time of loss.
Every time you’d fall into that shitty weather, mid-semester funk, spring would come and Fredonia would once again show you all the reasons you decided to call it your home-away-from-home. And even though we won’t be spending every second of our free time laying in the grass, soaking up the approximately five days of sunshine Fredonia sees, we can always come back.
It’s not going anywhere.
And even though it may not be while sitting atop stools, throwing back mini beers at Magill’s or gluing your eyes to your TV for a binge session of Netflix together, you’ll see your friends again.
They’ll still be your friends; they’re not going anywhere.
And the bridge …
Oh, wait.
So, much obliged, Fredonia. This piece, and a little bit of my time, is the least I can give to the school and people that I wish I could give the entire world.