As the seasons change, so do lives.

   I always hold on too long. Call it procrastination, but it's not just laziness that has kept me from putting away my winter clothes. Packing away my jackets, sweaters and scarves I am hit with the loss and melancholy I had been trying to escape by avoiding the task. Winter, again, is gone and with it goes the fun of layering up against the cold, the excitement of the holiday rush and wrapping up under piles of blankets -- all the things that make winter my favorite time of year. I'm never satisfied by the thought of next winter because there's a magic of the bygone that enables you to gloss over the bad and make the past twinkle like Christmas lights.

   Spring brings new beginnings; everything is in bloom and the freedom of summer is a few warm days away. Graduation is here for many, and with it comes the realization of 4 years of exams and papers embodied in a single diploma. You worked for it and you're now officially a functioning member of society. For me, however, it's a bittersweet accomplishment. It's the winters of hard study and 8 a.m. classes which have dominated life for 4 years, and even though they may have seemed cold and unforgiving times, they're all over and are now just memories. That simple piece of paper represents all the those late nights slaving over papers you could swear would never get done, the times that one last shot at a party seemed like such a good idea until you found yourself at your morning class with the hangover demons looming over your throbbing head, or even the loves you found and lost over the years. One piece of paper with just a few words printed on it contains the epic of your first steps into adulthood.

   As I tape up and label the boxes "winter", I know there are others who are packing up their dorms and apartments ready to leave behind this early season of youth and head into the summer of life. Seasons come and go, sometimes their effects are felt earlier and sometimes later, but it's inevitable. In this age of texting, Facebook, Twitter and all things instantaneous we tend to forget to unplug and take time to reflect of the past. Think about not just the seasons to come, but about the seasons that you've left behind. It's those seasons that have led up to your walk across the stage and that simple piece of paper with your name on it. If that's not enough to compel you to reflect, think of all those student loans that are soon to come knocking at your door with their greedy hands outstretched.

   That will definitely make you long for the simpler times.