Savoring These Moments

It takes me a long time to make good friends. Now that I have been here three years, I have a good set of friends that I love hanging out with. They invite me out, I invite them out, I enjoy their company, and I'm instantly included and accepted when I walk in. Life is good.

But now the guard is changing. In my grad student office, there's 15 people in cubicles. Six of them are graduating with their PhD this May. The deadline for the thesis is in 16 days, so it's nose to the grindstone around here. Defenses are being scheduled, life plans are being laid out, and there's an aura of change in the air.

I'm going to miss these days. I will miss the comfortable-ness. I've grown close to these people, and change is hard. I'll have to get used to a new set of faces around the office. I'm going to be the old cranky fourth-year grad student come the fall, mentoring the new grad students and keeping tabs on the second- and third- year students. Roles are reversing.

Today we went out to lunch on a lazy afternoon, and we're all sitting around the table, shooting the breeze. I know all the inside jokes, I'm laughing at the stories, we're sharing the dirt on all the lab happenings. I'm reminded to savor these moments. Very soon everything will rotate, refresh.

Life is good now. But life will be this good again. I love that I love where I'm at in life. It's been a really stressful past few weeks for me for a variety of reasons, but I'm going to take a deep breath and remember that it's not the classes that stick with you - it's the friends and the memories that make life special.

So here's to comfortable, special memories - now and in the future.