Cars on the Quad

I was running around the library all day taking care of a million little details, wrapped up in not only ending this semester but also in making sure we were set for summer schedule which begins next week - Monday, in fact! Yikes! At one point I was in an office on the second floor, and the person I was consulting received a phone call. I stepped away from her desk to give her a bit of privacy, and turned my gaze to her huge window and the scene below.

What on earth? There are four cars parked right on the grass in the quad. Who would drive their car onto the lawn and just leave it there? Don't they know we have graduation Saturday? The grounds people have been scrambling to tidy up the landscape, pruning, raking, planting, filling the huge urns in front of the buildings, watering stuff. Muddy ruts from tires would not be a pretty backdrop for gowned grads.

I was just turning about in my mind who ought to know about this situation when I realized that students living in the dorms were loading up and moving out. Of *course* they had parked their cars on the lawn right in front of the doors of their dorms. Who wants to lug 300 boxes clear around to the parking lot?

I smiled as I watched three strapping young men hauling mini fridges, microwaves, TVs, stereo gear, overstuffed chairs and footlockers to cram into trunks and vans. College is sure not what it used to be! You bring ALL the comforts of home and then some. I don't know how they get all that stuff into their tiny little rooms. Why would you need a neon lighted palm tree or a standing pink flamingo or a life size poster of Elvis? (Elvis? Really?) I remember going to college with one footlocker, two suitcases, a wastebasket and a box of goodies. And it was crowded then. I'm pretty sure the rooms are still the same size.

Of course, I am not one to talk. When I go to Concordia in June, I am going to drive out because I need to take my own version of the comforts of home (laptop, scores, dishes, pans, etc). And I'm only going to be there a month.

My friend hung up the phone and we continued our conversation about schedules while the students kept loading their parents' vehicles. They were still at in when I finished my business and headed back to my own office. I wish them well.