As I sit here and write this, I can’t help but reflect on the goings on I witnessed as I made my way into the office.

On a beautiful Sunday, the students of Eastern are playing bags on their lawns. Some women are soaking in the rays while the men sit on the porch, perhaps enjoying a nice adult beverage made of barley and hops.

It is nothing short of a perfect day, the kind of day that makes life worth living. Why, even my own roommates and friends are enjoying perhaps the most celebrated of springtime activities, the cook out.

And I find myself sitting in the office, the hum of fluorescent bulbs overhead barely drown out the whir of the fan in my computer.

To say the least, it is not the type of day I would wish to spend inside.

But, this is not the type of column where I am going to ramble on about how unfair it is that I must work, nor is it the column where I rail on about things that annoy me.

No, dear reader, this is the column where, while gazing out the window, I implore all of you to go out there and enjoy the weather like so many others already are.

The simple fact is that today, Monday, is April 12. For many of us that means graduation is now fewer than four weeks away.

All too soon some of us will find ourselves desperately seeking employment.

All too soon our families will come into town to congratulate our accomplishment of completing school. And then they will back their cars up to the front doors of our houses, apartments, residence halls, and so on, to pack up our belongings.

We will take our bulletin boards full of silly photos of our friends on weekend nights and our vintage beer signs and pack them away in a cardboard box.

And, unfortunately, as we move on to make our way down our chosen career path, looking for that elusive American Dream, our memories from college will become just like those boxes full of photos, packed away somewhere to be looked upon so rarely.

As depressing as it may seem, graduation marks the last gasp of childhood. We will have to go out and become adults.

The reality is that sitting on the back lawn, drinking beer and playing bags will, inevitably, become a thing of the past.

As our jobs require dedication and endless effort and we eventually find ourselves spending more time doing work on our lawns then relaxing in them, we will have to say good-bye to the freedoms that college life affords during those rare times when we aren’t overwhelmed with homework.

And the guys you toss the pigskin with will go off and do the same, and your college buddies will become the friends you struggle to stay in touch with.

So, while we have these last few weeks, right as spring is hitting its stride, let’s all take a little time to go outside and relax.

Drink a beer on the lawn and play bags – only if you are of legal age, of course – and waste the day away.

Too soon we will be cramming for finals and leaving Eastern and our college homes. Let’s make the most of the last few weeks of college life we have left.

David Thill is a senior journalism major and can be reached at 581-7942 or DENopinions@gmail.com.

(Illustration by David Thill / The Daily Eastern News)

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