Not so much goodbye, but good luck

Movies can provide us with a great way to look at life. One of my favorite movies is "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." One thing that I always remember from that movie is something that Ferris said. "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around every once in a while, you can miss it."\n While I always thought this quote was good, I got a better appreciation for it during Little 500 week. While everyone was out partying, I was in the hospital with appendicitis. And nothing gives you time to think like a nice hospital stay. Especially when no one is around to talk to except for your senile roommate who gets dressed to leave at 4 a.m.\nSo, as I said, I got to thinking, and something dawned on me. The school year is over, and that means I am about to embark on my senior year of college. That is a tad bit frightening, if for no other reason that in a year I will be unleashed upon this world as a full-fledged, money-making (hopefully) adult. But I suppose all good things must come to an end, right?\nAnd while the coming of my senior year is crazy and signals many different life changes or soon-to-be changes, I also realized what the end of the year meant to other people around me. In order for me to become a senior, that means that this year's seniors had to graduate (well, at least most of them).\nFor the first time in my years at IU, graduation will have a large impact on me. Oh sure, I've known seniors who have graduated already, and it's always odd for them not to be around anymore, but this year is different. The seniors graduating this year, I have more of a link to.\nWhether it's people I know from class or work, guys I've played lacrosse with or a roommate I have lived with for the past year, they are all people that I know and with whom I have built solid friendships. These were people that were there at the bars with me for my birthday, people that were there to guide me when I was picking classes or just people who were there for me when I needed to talk.\nNow, I know that you people out there will be saying, "Well, what did you expect, everyone to stay here forever?" And no, I don't expect everyone to be like Chris Farley in "Tommy Boy" and take nine years to graduate. In fact, while I would like it if some of these graduates would be around next year, I don't really wish for them to stick around any longer, either. That is because it's part of life, we move on, we go our separate ways and to wish that this never to happen is just foolish.\nWhat I want everyone to get out of this column is twofold. One, I want to say goodbye to all of you graduates, whose lives will forever change tomorrow when you get that diploma and go on your separate ways to anywhere from the East Coast to the West Coast and beyond. For those of you that I have known, you have made a mark on my life that I truly appreciate. For those of you that I never got to know, well, I really have nothing to say to you.\nBut while I say goodbye, I know that for those of you that are my good friends it's not goodbye for good. I know that we will stay in touch through the years, so that I will know wherever you might venture, whether you are living in a big city or if you move out to Arizona to escape the snow. And you will know when I become the manager of my very own Taco Bell (free nachos to anyone I know!).\nWhich brings me to my second point of this column. No, not how good the nachos are at Taco Bell, which they are, but one last thing that I want to say to the graduates. Good luck in whatever you might do. I'm sure that you will be successful in any endeavor you might pursue. And try not to forget about us younger kids that are still here in B-town, toiling away in our classes.