Souvenirs

So I've been feeling a little nostalgic lately.  As I've been going through Facebook posts, photos, and messages, deleting emails, and cleaning up all of the junk I brought home, I can't help but think about my wonderful experience at my first year of college.

I recently bought Switchfoot's new CD, Vice Verses.  Track number 9 is my favorite song by far.  It's called Souvenirs, have a listen:

Here's to the twilight; Here's to the memories; These are my souvenirs; My mental pictures of everything 
Here's to the late nights; Here's to the fire light; These are my souvenirs; My souvenirs 
I close my eyes and go back in time; I can see you smiling, you're so alive; We were so young, we had no fear 
We were so young, we had no idea that life was just happening; Life was just happening 
Here's to your bright eyes; Shining like fireflies; These are my souvenirs; The memory of a lifetime 
We were wide eyed with everything; Everything around us; We were enlightened by everything; Everything 
So I close my eyes and go back in time; I can see you smiling, you're so alive 
I close my eyes and go back in time; You were just a child then, and so was I 
We were so young, we had no fear; We were so young, we had no idea; That nothing lasts forever 
That nothing lasts forever; Nothing lasts, nothing lasts; You and me together; Were always now or never 
Can you hear me? Can you hear me? 
I close my eyes and go back in time; I can see you smiling, you're so alive 
I close my eyes and go back in time; You were wide eyed, you were wide eyed 
We were so young, we had no fear; We were so young, we had just begun 
A song we knew but had never sung; It burned like fire inside our lungs 
And life was just happening(nothing lasts, nothing lasts forever) 
And life was just happening(nothing lasts, nothing lasts forever) 
I wouldn't trade it for anything; My souvenirs

The best part of being home is getting the chance to sit down and reflect on the things that happened to me over my first year of college.  For the first time in a while, things are not flying past me at 100 miles per hour.  I've had time to close my eyes and think back over the last semester and wonder, what are my souvenirs?  For sure, my mental pictures are plentiful:

-Waiting for the frisbee to come down into my hands

-Attempting not to get juked out by that basketball player

-Staring at my engineering project waiting for it to work

-Waiting for that green box to show up on Lon Capa (online physics homework)

-Picking up all of the jelly beans, corn seeds, and pine cone remnants off of my floor

-Being entranced by Freecell or Angry Birds in a split-second of free time

-Looking into the face of a good friend

-Smiling into the loving face of my bed after being apart for way too long

-Turning in my last final

The song is true.  There were many late nights, too many in fact.  It seems like I was often such a child trying to find my way around, wide-eyed and enlightened at every turn.  I like to think of myself as seasoned and experienced, but I am still young as life happens around me.

One thing is for sure: 

I wouldn't trade it for anything.