The New A&M

In the day to day glances in the mirror we miss so much, we miss the growing of the wrinkles on our faces, we don't notice that our whitening toothpaste doesn't work as well as it claims. But if we look at things from a broader perspective all of the sudden slight changes on a daily basis can accumulate into areas of massive growth. Recently, that's happened to me with this town that I used to love: College Station.

This town has changed so much since I came here back before the beginning of the millennium. I kinda feel like someone that just looked at photos and realized how much those around them have changed and how much they too have changed. Last night some old friends came down for a wedding and it was the first time in almost a year that I hung out with people that are older than I am. It was such a welcome thing for me, because I've been "the old guy" for so long. But I found out that in seeing them, I saw too how much the place has changed. For one, this school has gotten to be much preppier than it used to be. I swear the only people that used to get dressed up for class were freshmen, now most everybody not in Zachary does. Even when I went swimming today I saw no fewer than 3 girls with plastic surgery and only a scant few had never been to a tanning bed. Also, Northgate instead of being where the yokels are it's now where the soon to be yuppies go. Now I don't know if that's necessarily a good thing or a bad thing, but I do know that this place I'm going to be leaving for good in 2 weeks is so different than when I came to it.

Or is the real change within me? Perhaps all of the feelings of difference are just my projection of reality and the place has changed less than I thought. Just like the person staring at the photograph the images of the current and the past can never fully coincide. Is it simply the friends that have changed, moved on, or moved in…or is the reflection a true image of a place that is changing? I don’t know, but I know that I need to get out of here. A&M will soon be like the home that I grew up in: a place of many wonderful and fond memories, a place that I will love to visit; but also, a place that I know I wouldn’t be content to continue living in.