Remember Homecoming in high school?

Chances are, no.

At the time it may have been the biggest moment in your life — hopefully she says yes, match the tie to her dress, dance your a** off, party it up after — all must-do’s on everyone’s Homecoming list.

None or all may have been accomplished during those four years, but just as high school was seemingly irrelevant, so was its Homecoming.

College is not like that. Homecoming has the chance to be one of the more memorable experiences of your four (or five or six) years in college.

The obvious reason is that Homecoming in college provides an acceptable excuse to binge drink from 8 a.m. Saturday to 4 a.m. Sunday

Or Thursday through Sunday. Or Sunday to Sunday. To each their own. As if such extensive drinking any other given week was wrong? Right? Right?

Drink as moderately as you can in such a 20-hour span from Saturday to Sunday. Pace. Eat. Be smart. Or don’t. No judging over here.

But more importantly, Homecoming is a perfect event to create memories with some people you may never see again.

College buddies are quite possibly the ultimate cliché, but I have come to realize that, that cliché is equally as true.

The more time spent thinking about it, the more I realize only a handful of the people who are a part of my every-day life now will still be in my life just five years from now.

Distance, careers or even marriages, already make it difficult to remain in touch with those whom have already graduated.

You will likely follow suit the moment you and current friends graduate.

However, Homecoming allows you to reconnect for a brief, but ever-lasting weekend, with visiting friends, who are already experiencing the “real world,” and also avoid that same “real world” with friends who are still students at Eastern.

Homecoming is where “remember when” or “this one time” is created. It is a gateway to reminiscing about college when all else may just be too real.

But don’t make a mistake. Don’t overhype or under hype it. Not everything about Homecoming needs to be epic. Let the time come to you. Yet, don’t treat this should-be holiday too lightly. It is there to take advantage of. Make it happen.

So, enjoy Homecoming while it’s here. After all, you only get four (or five or six) of them.

Anthony Catezone is a senior journalism major. He can be reached at 581-2812 or ajcatezone@eiu.edu.