Being a senior two weeks away from graduating is giving me the most tumultuous emotional rollercoaster ride of my life.

The past four years have felt like four minutes and now I have adult life waiting for me to fall into its clutches for eternity.

I hate to sound like every middle-aged person on this planet already, but I must ask: where did the time go?

While there are five stages of grief, I find myself treading comfortably in the first stage as I grieve over the end of my college career.

Loans, adapting to a new work environment, moving back in with the original roommates (the parents) and navigating the art of making friends as an adult are not the things that have me in denial.

It is the physical separation and distance that will now exist between me and my friends from college as well as my friends from home.

I have been spoiled my entire life with being surrounded by the absolute best people both in Chicago and Charleston.

The past 21 years have been what I like to refer to as a continuous hangout. And that is something I have been struggling to accept is coming to a close.

As the days pass by more quickly than one before, it is finally setting in that my best friends will no longer be either down the hall or around the block.

This proximity is something I have not only become so comfortable with, but also dependent on.

Accepting this fact is going to be the first step we all make in our adult lives.

We all have somewhere we need to go.

That somewhere may not be the same for all of us and our friends, but we need to remind ourselves to stop feeling bad for ourselves and start feeling happy for our friends.

We all wish we could have more time to soak up the directionless beauty of our youth together through friendship, but once graduation in May hits, we just need to suck it up and taste reality.

Separate ways do not mean separate lives, especially when a friend means so much to you.

Carole Hodorowicz is a senior journalism major. She can be reached at 581-2812 or cdhodorowicz@eiu.edu.