I spent the last few days in New York with my family, hence the lack of posts.  I found out on Tuesday night that my mom had a heart attack and, of course, immediately flew home.  Thankfully, she’s going to be ok; she had three stents inserted into her artery (to keep it open) and the doctors say that as long as she takes her blood thinner meds and NEVER smokes again, she will be alright.  I’ve never been a fan of cigarettes…you can ask my friends and they’ll tell you how I’ve shamed them for smoking and even helped a few quit!  But when my 58-year-old mother (e.g. “waaaay too young for this shit,” as her doctor put it) had a brush with death, I couldn’t help but freak out.

Once I found out that my mom was going to be ok, I got a little nostalgic and took a drive over to my old college, Hofstra University.  My four years at Hofstra were honestly some of the best years of my life and I had a really hard time letting go of it all in the year or two after I graduated.  Walking around campus was a pretty surreal experience; seeing the class of 2016 (yes, seriously, 2016) move into their new dorms…they look SO YOUNG and so excited.  I felt genuine excitement for them and, of course, a slight twinge of jealousy.  It was then that I realized that as much as I’d like to go back, I’ve learned so much since that time and I wouldn’t change any of the experiences that I’ve had then AND since then, bad or good, for anything in the world.  My memories from college are just that…AMAZING MEMORIES.  Sitting in front of my freshman year dorm, Estabrook Hall (photo above), I thought about all of the fun (and not so fun) times I had and I had an instant smile on my face.

The above photo is the path back to Estabrook from the Student Center.  As I walked towards the split, there was a group of girls who chose the middle path.  I immediately thought: oh, they will learn that while the middle path is “prettier” the path to the right is the more direct route…and boy, will they appreciate that as soon as the temperature drops down to 40 degrees.  It was a random thought but one that made me happy…and also symbolic of the choices that we make in life and how they affect everything in your future.  Here’s to making good life decisions and choices, like not smoking or doing things that will harm you in your future.  Let me mother’s mistake be a lesson to all of us.  Life is precious, and way too short to be unhappy.