Growing Pains

When one is in college, it is as if you are in a sphere of your own. Trials are not as trivial as those in high school yet they still are not so dramatic as those faced in the adult world. Our parents are still generally there to bail us out of trouble. Food is still not too hard to find, and though we are doing our own laundry and cleaning, I believe it is fairly safe to say that college is a safe and secure bubble.

This is especially true on a campus where most people are far from home. We are in our own world, the worst problems that we face is wondering how we will get all of our homework done, study for the test tomorrow, make it through sports practice and still get enough sleep that we are able to function. That's not too bad. Really life is full of fun activities and school is really a place to socialize, have fun and be happy.

And then a phone call comes.

Our happy reality is shattered and replaced with an entirely new one. One of the girls in 215 was unfortunate enough to receive such a call. She found out that her parents are getting a divorce.

What can one do to offer comfort when the building blocks of a life are being ripped apart? All I have is a shoulder to cry on and an overabundance of hot chocolate waiting for her when she needs it. Life still goes on in places where we are not. Loves bloom and wilt, lives grow and are lost and all without our knowledge and certainly without our permission.

In our society that has become steadily more egocentric it is really hard to imagine that everyone else is the star of their movie just as you star in your own. It is impossible to think that parents and siblings who are far away from you, rather than staying static characters waiting for you to come back into their lives, are growing and changing without you there to see it.

Perhaps this is because it is much easier that way. It is much easier to think that things will always stay the same. They don't though, you change, your friends change, your family changes, life is a continuous round of transitions. All things must grow or else they are lost.

I just wish there weren't so many growing pains involved.