The Last Walk

On the day I graduated from Stonehill College I trudged across the campus alone to Notre Dame du Lac, the dormitory I resided in during my Senior year, to pack up my things and go back home to Rhode Island.  It was a strange walk for me because I knew it was my last walk across campus, the last of many walks I had made in my four years at Stonehill.  

What I remember most about those walks was the people.  During my time at Stonehill I had met dozens of people.  I loved seeing those people as I walked across the campus each day, loved the interactions that would transpire.  It could be anything from a full stop to have a serious and emotional conversation down to a quick wave, a laugh, an inside joke or catch phrase as we passed by each other.  I loved each and every one of those interactions.  Every time I walked out of my dorm room I was filled with the excitement of what that walk would bring, of who that walk would bring, of what great memory was right around the corner.

On that last day when I walked into Notre Dame du Lac I saw three people standing in the lobby.  Two of them were Erin and her boyfriend David, two of those dozens of people that I had gotten to meet over those years.  The loudspeakers in the dorm were playing some kind of compilation of Frank Sinatra hits that the campus radio station was broadcasting.

Erin was a bright and vibrant personality.  She was engaging and funny and cheerful and strong.  She could stir up positive activity amongst a group just from her presence.  We had worked together on a number of things while at Stonehill and I enjoyed the time I’d spent with her.  During this moment she was standing patiently to the side while David was engaged in conversation with the third person.

David was someone I had only gotten to know better during that last year of school.  For a while he had seemed to me gruff, matter of fact, and difficult to approach.  Luckily for me, David and I ended up working together on an event the previous fall.  It was through that collaboration that I had gotten to know him and learned that underneath what I had perceived as a blunt exterior lay the proverbial heart of gold.  Some people may have looked at David and Erin and seen two very different people but to me I saw the things they had in common: earnestness, kindness, determination, and a genuine nature.

I approached and Erin and I started to chat about things I do not recall.  During the conversation the song playing over the radio switched over to “Summer Wind” at which point I jokingly asked Erin if she’d like to dance.  We laughed and started slow dancing to the song in a mocking manner.  At one point Erin rolled her eyes and sarcastically bemoaned that David was so busy talking to someone else that another man had stolen his girlfriend for a dance right out from under his nose.  We both laughed at that and I thought to myself how much David was being like David and Erin was being like Erin in that moment, and how much I appreciated the two of them.

It was at that point that it hit me – this was to be the last memory I would have of a walk across the Stonehill College campus.  This was the last unexpected interaction, the last conversation, the last laugh, the last moment.  After this I would walk up to my dorm room, finish packing my things, and leave the Stonehill campus never to be a student there again.  I wonder now if Erin noticed me falter a step in the dance at that moment.  Did the smile briefly slide from my face as the gravity of the realization pulled down on me, or did I display no evidence of it to the people around me?

The moment passed, and the song ended.  The third person left and I remember briefly speaking with both David and Erin for a bit afterwards.  Good byes were spoken and hugs exchanged, “hope to see you again,” said, and after that we parted ways.  I walked the final steps up to the stairs and arrived at my dorm room, ready to collect my last few things and depart.  The last walk was over.