Anyone for a game of Risk?

It has finally dawned on me. I can't believe I didn't see it sooner. I don't belong in Provo anymore. This shouldn't surprise me, but it does. I guess you could say that I've become disenchanted. Don't get me wrong, it's a lovely place. Peculiar, yes, but then again, what city doesn't have it's own quirks?

I still love the mountains and the seasons. I love interacting daily with so many different people. I love watching people interact on campus ("Who Likes Who at BYU" is still a favorite pasttime). Few things fill my heart with more joy than running into a friend from a previous class or ward that I haven't seen in a while and taking the time to say hello and re-connect (regardless of whether or not you're late for class). But, as I watched the bloodshot, sleep-deprived eyes of students with the haunted look of midterms in their incurious eyes, I realized that I had paid my dues (in the form of tuition, mostly), and it is time for me to leave. I feel almost as if I'm watching a dialogue that I have no part in. Like everyone is on stage for Macbeth and here I am waiting to go on as Linda Loman - a little part in a completely different show, yet I stand in anxiously the wings anyway.

One thing I will miss is the "unexpected overheard conversation" that seasoned many a walk across campus. Mind you, as much as I hate to admit it, I'm kind-of a serial eavesdropper. My mom always said that my big ears got me in trouble because I knew all kinds of things I shouldn't. However, they provided for countless laughs between classes. Like the day the two freshmen behind me argued over which language was truly the language of world domination (I think German finally won out), or the best way to eat an artichoke (including, but not limited to, casting out the evil spirit by incantation prior to cooking). Today's entry was not necessarily original, but having been away for a time, I had forgotten how funny such a snippet could be.

Girl talking too loud and rather whiningly on her cell phone: " Well, we've known each other since July, and we're not even engaged yet . . . "

Ah, the joys of romance in Provo. Yes, I don't think I'll give up my habit just yet. There are far too many delicious morsels yet to be overheard.