Seasons of Love

The year is over.

Yesterday, I said my good-byes to the students,handed over a CD with 431 pictures, turned in my keys, finished packing my bags and cleaned out my room.

As I went through each of these steps, I couldn’t help but wonder where the year had gone. This morning as my barefoot roommates helped me load my bags into Erik’s car, we realized that this year has ended where it began-barefoot on the side walk of Palisade Ave with suitcases at Erik’s car.

But how do you account for everything that happened since that day at the end of August. Or in the words of the wonderful, although slightly cliché, song Seasons of Love from Rent “How do you measure a year in the life?”

I think the song answers its own question well.

In daylight. In sunsets.

In midnights. In cups of coffee.

In inches. In miles.

In laughter. In strife.

In five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes….

It’s time now to sing out. Though the story never ends.

Lets celebrate, remember a year in the life of friends.

As I sit at LaGuardia airport, reflecting on these words, I find myself remembering all the fun and laughter. It is weird to think about this chapter in my life coming to an end, knowing that the Newark 8 will never be together again in the same way we were this year. I know that I will forever celebrate and remember this year in the life of friends.

They say a picture is worth a 1,000 words, so here are the thousands of words that provide a the measuring stick for the past year for me: