"Seasons change and so did I.."

The other night I went for a walk in the dark around Vermillion. I love that it's safe to do that here. I passed houses where I've partied and houses where I've lived, where I drank my first (college) beer and where I had my first (college) kiss. I swear there was a brief moment when I could taste freshman year. It was delicious.

I realized that this is my sixth spring here, and it will be the last I'll spend in Vermillion. Thinking of this made me a little nostalgic. Spring is maybe my favorite season to spend in this town.. mostly because winter is so ultra-depressing and makes me question why the H I'm still living in South Dakota.. but then Spring rolls around and people come out from hiding the way they do in apocalyptic movies once the asteroid/flood/natural disaster has passed. The town comes alive again with frisbee golf and yard games and walking dogs, and Carey's bar doubles in size because the back patio is finally open. You'd swear the population doubles, too.

Then there's summer in Vermillion, which is a whole experience on its own. I've only spent one summer here, but it was the best one I've ever had. One June day I ran into the chair of the English department at Hy-Vee. We were both buying bread, and she said, "Don't you just love Vermillion in the summer? It reminds me of The Wonder Years." She was right. Also it reminds me of The Breakfast Club. The college kids that choose to live in Verm for the summer are an assortment of every cliche, yet somewhere between the abandoned campus and the Missouri River, we all find a case of cheap beer and a backyard to share. Somehow we find ourselves splashing around in the music museum fountain at 3am or dancing on wet mattresses outside a fraternity yelling the lyrics to Hilary Duff.  It's something really magical.

Then it's fall in Vermillion which is beautiful but deceptive. Vermillion is a postcard for a college town. Leaves, freshman, backpacks, football, kegs, homecoming. It lures you in and makes you feel comfortable until--bam--winter.

Winter in Vermillion is fun for about a day. When the snow sticks to trees and the sign at Prentice park, I have a brief moment of "Ah, this is nice." But then I have to put on boots go outside and scrape my windshield and walk in blizzards to go to class. It's dark when I leave and dark when I come home. It's dark when I close my eyes and dark when I open them. Winter here is dark and cold, but we survive and spring is our reward.

This is my last spring in Vermillion. One (partial) summer, fall, and (partial) winter left and I'm outta here. I guess I better enjoy it.