Today I was over in the Manwaring Center (MC), waiting to meet some people. While I was sitting there, reviewing what I wanted to do this semester in the Sunday School, I stopped and looked around where I was. I was sitting in the outer-most area of the Crossroads, the new-ish cafeteria here at BYU-Idaho. It's a nice place, to be sure, lots of hard work has gone into it. But while I was looking around, seeing the new stuff and the construction still on-going, memories of years back began to flood my mind.
About three years ago, before the construction began, the MC looked a lot different. Instead of the Crossroads, it housed the Galley. What is now a construction area used to be the Bookstore and Nordic Landing (though while I was gone, it was all the Nordic landing, the Bookstore having moved). Part of the current Crossroads used to be the East Ballroom. The passage to the west side of the building, with it's old red tile, it's staircase, West Ballroom, and classrooms have all vanished behind the wall of construction. What used to be an area I was familiar with is now still so foreign to me. So different.
And with the memories of the old MC came the memories of people past. Of the people I used to spend my time with, those whom I associated with. So many years ago. What different lives we now lead. Many have moved on, most married. All have graduated, with the exception of those who were on missions around the same time as each other. Even those of us have begun to wander different ways, finding new people to associate with. Most of those who are left from those early years are busy with classes and work, and a good number with boyfriends/girlfriends. It's strange to watch, even while it is exciting.
Memories are funny things. They seem to strike right when you least expect them, in the most innocent of circumstances, and can have such different effects on you. For me, today, it was a trip back down memory lane, a moment filled with nostalgia as I remembered those whom I used to spend my time with, in the places we used to frequent, and how they are all gone. I thought about where they are now, what little I know about the present. Thoughts about how even I have changed ranged through my mind as I thought about what I now spend my time doing and who I spend it with. Life is very different now from what it once was. Not better, not worse, just different.
The one thing that must be kept in mind about memories is that they shouldn't rule us, no matter how strong they are, how cherished they are, or how hurtful they are. Memories are just that, memories. They are not the present, they are not the future, and they are only a part of us, not the whole of us. Sometimes that's what we struggle with the most, because many of the memories we have are wonderful ones, but it is a part of life that we must learn to accept and continue on despite, or because of them.
