I went to my office at school today to pick up some boxes I packed last week. I discovered in my absence, my corner has been occupied by M.W.. It's not like I didn't know this was going to happen. It's just, walking into my space and having it confirmed that it's not my space anymore was a little unsettling. For the past three years Room 116 in GH has been my home. I have worked there, eaten there, slept there, made out there, and gotten drunk too many times to count. I have argued about the state of the world, the state of theatre and tried to make changes in the way things were done. In my own little way I was trying to make a difference in the world I inhabited. It remains to be seen whether the things I did changed anyone's life and I suppose I'll never know. But now it's over. Any day now I will turn in my keys and that will be it.

I suppose my feelings today were only exasperated by having attended my going away party last night. It's not something I had planned. I didn't even ask for it. Last week I was at school packing and R.S. walked by and commented that life at school wasn't going to be the same when I was gone. I wish that it were because of my insane talent, or my charm, or personality. But in reality it's because I provided Happy Hour on Fridays. At 4:30 every Friday afternoon, I set up and tended bar for my classmates. Sometimes people were only there a couple of hours. Sometimes we drank into the wee hours of the morning, calling other classmates to come get us and drive us home. I provided a service to people who work very hard seven days a week. When you are a student everyday of the week is a work day. R.S. asked if I was planning a party before I left. I told him I would have loved to, but it would have required cleaning my apartment. My roommate and I have avoided cleaning for the past several weeks because of our schedules. R.S. then suggested that he could have a party for me, since it was important for everyone to get to say good-bye to me. What's really strange about this, is that R.S. is an actor. It's not that I don't like actor's it's just at school the designers and actors don't tend to socialize together. And to my knowledge he and I have never socialized other drinking at happy hour. And yet here he was suggesting that I have a going away party at his house.

Fast forward to last night. For almost 4 hours I talked to my classmates: actors, directors, designers, stage managers and even a PhD. student thrown in for good measure. We talked about our experiences over the past three years. I told them about my plans to move to the city. Mostly we laughed and had a good time. At about 1:00 a.m. the last of the people left. I thanked my host profusely for the party and I left. What's funny, is that it wasn't sad. For all of us, graduation is truly about the beginning of sometime wonderful, not the end of something dear. It's what we do. And we go on, and we work and if the gods are with us, we will find our selves working together in the future.

And so today, when I got to the office it was confirmed that my time in graduate school was over. Next fall M.W. will sit in my chair. Someone else will maybe host Happy Hour. I'll be just a memory.