This month, we’re stepping away from the moderately obscure tech products blog to discuss back-to-school. I was told to share my experiences on school-related experiences such as getting the kids ready and taking them to school. Well, to my knowledge, I have no children yet. Therefore, I am going to take a little different route in sharing a unique experience of going off to college, i.e., “to school.”
Leaving for Gainesville was one of the most exciting moments of my life: the independence, the freedom, and the scheduling of my classes on days and times of my choosing.
I was ecstatic to get out there and experience everything the swamp had to offer. Being the oldest, I had already started to mentally prepare for an emotional mother, the first baby cub leaving the den. We had already purchased all the essentials we could think of for my new living arrangements and started to make the 2+ hour trek up I-75 to the University of Florida. Out of all the things going through my abnormally large head, I was laser-focused on accomplishing one thing the day I got there: convincing my mother to let me have a moped.
Gainesville is one of the few college towns in the country where you are much more likely to see moped scooters on and around campus than cars.
They swarm like hornets up there. My mother was less than thrilled at the prospect of me scooting one of these light, open-body vehicles around. I started with a repeated plea to wear a helmet 100% of the time, she was more than ready to call my at-the-time potential bluff. The strategy had to change. Once, after arriving and unpacking the car, I planned to walk to one of the food spots located near Ben Hill Stadium. The stadium is in the heart of campus, a great barometer for the common walk around campus that I would have to do for the next four years. Mother Nature was on my side. Long story short, walking in the dead of summer, in the literal swamp, for 20 minutes (but felt like an hour), I was able to get that moped. Mission accomplished.
Then, I was left alone to study and enjoy life to the fullest.
Reflecting, the common theme that comes to mind is being thankful. First to my parents and family for support financially and emotionally. In addition, to the friends, found along the way and the existing ones in which we created fond memories as we completed the best four-year vacation we will ever have. “The good ole days.”
(If you ever get the chance to see a 330 lb lineman ride a moped, I promise you cannot do anything but smile)
August 2024
