last night in nashville

Today I took two finals. I drank two Red Bulls and packed up my entire room. I fit nine months of my life into the trunk of my 1991 Volvo. All that livin' in two semesters, and the boxes are all that remain.

When the sun went down, Jilian and I drove to Zach & Josh's. When we walked in, The Office was on tv and Zach was making omelets. Zach, Josh, Dave, Rachel, Jil and I told stories about highschool. We went into the yard and opened two bottles of champagne, shooting the corks across the street. The semester was over. We were another year older, and another year wiser. We laughed over our drinks, and ate ice cream from a huge tub. Secretly, each of us was in denial that we'd be returning to our respective cities in only a few hours.

As the night reached a lull, we dragged living room furniture onto the front porch of the house. It was a perfect 75 degrees, and the moon was a dull light. Zach lit 3 cigars and we passed them around. It was Jil's first time and she didn't choke. We clapped for her. Rachel took pictures with a vintage camera. The sweet vanilla smoke rolled off the porch and down Granny White Pk, past the park, and into the night.

We reflected on our first year of college, and how the next three years would change us. Before we knew it, it was past 2:00am. The hardest thing to do was to walk out that kitchen door. To say bye to the people that had been my life for the past year. But I grabbed my car keys and drove back to campus. I sang along to my favorite Sara Bareilles record with the windows down. It wasn't long before I realized a tear ran down my cheek as I pulled into the parking garage for the last time.