Cosplaying a UMD student… and a butterfly?
Getting ready for the pool!
It’s August 28, 10:30pm. I just made it back home after being out for a good 6 hours, sitting in the same bed I woke up in. Being in my room again, it feels like I never left. Like I’ve been in here, rotting away working and scrolling, just like how every other day seems to go by.
But, I must remind myself that today was not one of those days.
I logged off work and got ready and drove off to College Park to hang out with Jimmy. With today’s abnormally high temperatures (again, f climate change) the heat was unbearable and scorching, so we made plans to cool off at Eppley’s outdoor pool. We invited a few select people (Jelly? Yeah. I know.) (Jimmy’s roommates) (And Emma but she couldn’t make it 😿), and drove over to partake in some splashy debauchery.
***Quick segue: Obviously, the fact that I graduated and am no longer a student hit me a long time ago. Hell, I finished school in December 2023. It’s been over 9 months.
But… I didn’t realize that with the termination of my college career, comes the termination of arguably the best “perk” (best part of a hefty tuition, that is): EPPLEY.
WEIGHTS. ROCK CLIMBING. POOL. ANOTHER POOL. ANOTHER POOL. THIS TIME INDOOR. ANOTHER ONE OF THOSE. SAUNA. SQUASH. VOLLEYBALL. BASKETBALL. GOD DAMN. PING PONG. TENNIS. INDOOR TRACK. NATTY LITE (NATURAL LIGHT). EVERYTHING YOU COULD EVER NEED (and they’re building an INDOOR ROCK CLIMBING WALL…)***
So, that hit me today. I hadn’t realized that my swipe into the pool wasn’t going to work. What was I to do!?
(Enthralling stuff, isn’t it? You’re on the edge of your seat, I can tell.)
Well, I did what any UMD student (or in this case.. me) would do trying to use a fake at Looney’s. I was cool as a cucumber.
Me waiting to hand the pool girl my old UMD ID
I quickly placed it in her hand, and saw her swipe it in the little card reader… and it blinked green.
“Thanks! Have a good day” she said.
I WAS IN. I F#@$ING DID IT. NO ONE IN THIS GODDAMN POOL WILL KNOW I’M NOT A UMD STUDENT!! WOOHOOOO.
Not that anyone would care, anyways. Well, except me? Initially at least.
God, it’s weird giving up your stomping grounds. So weird. The pool was inundated with freshmen (and water..! ba dum tiss! I’m here all week ladies and gentlemen. Get it? Inundated = flooded? Hilarious? No?), and I realized that the campus I said goodbye to all those months ago was a campus I would never get back. I’m so used to seeing someone I know in every corner of campus. And now, it felt so jarring that the campus I knew so well (#TourGuide) was filled with these unknown faces and minds and bodies that are going to learn and grow and make new connections just like I did. It’s like a butterfly’s life cycle (I guess this means I’m a butterfly now, at least).
This batch of kiddos has no freaking idea the love, the happiness, the mistrust, the disgust, the envy, the lust, the excitement, the gratefulness, the anxiety, the fill in the blank they’re going to experience in college. It’s an experience like no other, it is undeniable. Unforgettable. Un-undoable. I do hope they cherish every moment of it.
And that leaves me here! I was a butterfly, yes, but a butterfly only lives for a few months, if it’s lucky. So I’ve definitely died already. And if I’m being honest, I very physically/emotionally/spiritually felt that death. I think I’m also past the egg phase (rotting and not doing anything— please, that was so January through June) which leaves me in the caterpillaaaaaa phase. What I like to think as the growing pains phase. Here’s a beautiful (royalty-free) chart to help you picture what I’m getting at here.
Who up playing with they pupa? 💯 #LarvAYEEEEEEE
As a mature caterpillar (that is not something I ever expected to say in my life), I feel myself nearing my chrysalis/pupa stage (I prefer pupa). I characterize this stage as the “work in silence” phase – and the butterfly is where you will reap the rewards. The pupa phase is the last leg of a hard time, with so much good and so many blessings to follow after.
So, all this to say, life is just a finite number of butterfly life cycles. Here’s to hoping we experience a lot of ‘em. 🦋
