Friday, January 20, 2006

Back into School Mode

Back to school is always a blessing for me. I use it as a time to concentrate on me and forget about the world. My life revolves around my books and assignments not to mention keeping up with extra-curriculum activities around the school. Spring is in the air and for the first time in a long time I feel settled. I am hoping this will be a start of a trend. This being the end of the school year I know I am going to be losing some good friends to the work force as they graduate and set out to find themselves in the real world.


I met Dee on my way to the bookstore. He was the only colored person in sight but I could barely recognize him. He had cut his braids and he looked good. I always pushed him to cut his braids and I was so proud that he finally did it. As customary for us we hugged when we got close to each other. He had tears in his eyes due to the cold biting wind blowing around us but that didn't stop his smile from reaching his eyes. I mentioned the tear and he brushed it off as being joy of seeing me. We caught up a little bit. I asked him about his upcoming graduation and his credit load this semester. I reminded him of last semester when he nearly had a breakdown due to taking a lot of credits. He shrugged it off and said he was looking forward to graduating and moving on to bigger and better things. He is an economics major and he is planning to be an investment banker. Dee was moving to Minneapolis with his girlfriend when May came around. I was already missing him and he hadn't left. I would miss him sneaking behind me and giving me a hug. I would miss his crazy antics like pretending he had a walkie with him everytime he saw one of us doing something dumb. Memories of him calling me a pimp when we were at the hip hop dance, Me teaching him to cook bariis (the swahili style) with chicken, him talking me/forcing me to go to a party 45 mins away and all the crazy stories of how he was two timing his female companions, pretending he was awfully sorry when he was not. All in all I would miss him as a friend and big brother.

Hanna Banana is transfering to good ol' chitown next year. She is pursing her dream of being an elementary teacher. This girl turned me into dear Abby in the couple of years I have known her. She has wide innocent eyes and is soft spoken and respectful. It was a joy to work side by side with her in our organization. She is definately a gem and I hope she gets all she hopes for.

I might be moving too next year but I am unsure. If I get into the program I hope and pray for then I will definately be packing up and leaving. I have a long road ahead of me then but I am sure I will meet plenty of people along the way who will help and some who will deter my progress. Listening to Fleetwood Mac I feel good about this year and Inshallah it shall be prosperous. My roomates will remain friends for a while and off course I plan to keep contact with them otherwise I know they will beat the BLACK off my ass. I love them to death and I hope they feel the same about me. I tried sneaking into the apartment the night I drove in from home. Patricia wasn't fooled she heard the key turn in the lock and poked her head out of her room, tackling me with my bags in one motion. She screamed and hug me repeating over and over "My roomie is back." I guess she missed me with a reaction like that. I still have work to do on that girl and in the little time I have I plan to accomplish changing her mind about the fact that she can do anything she set her mind too and that black is a race and haitian is ethinicity.


Got to get back to studying for my national exams. This should be an interesting semester indeed. With my credit load and the programs that we plan to do this year as an organization, I am sure it will be memorable for those leaving and those staying. As they say there is no better way of leaving than with a bang!

2 comments:

Flower.of.Chaos said...

Good Luck Leyla!

It feels good to be graduating here too :)

q said...

Congrats! and good luck with whatever else you intend to do.