Holy moly. It snowed. Finally, a true college event happened. It came completely out of the blue, there were lots of people having a great time, everyone was happy and festive, and people got messy and hurt in the process. That, boys and girls, is a true college event.
So Patrick came down and explained that snow was falling. I came outside to see that yes, snow was indeed falling, and it wasn't any petty snow either. It was snowing. Soon enough the whole quad had assembled out there like the Grinch had just stolen Christmas and we were the residents of Hooville, and I got to see lots of happy people and take pictures (which will go online as soon as I figure out my damned digicam drivers) and then 2 minutes had passed outside and I got hit in the eye with a snowball.
15 minutes later, I was back outside, running around and giving out more hugs.
The amazing thing was that this all happened at the stroke of midnight, 'officially' beginning Valentine's Day. I saw a few elated couples happily kissing in the winter wonderland that had come 7 weeks late. The song "St. Patrick's Day" played in my head over and over as my camera took as many party shots as my frozen fingers could handle, and that was my Valentine's experience. You don't need a significant other or even a simple cheap date to find it. You just have to have the kind of insane luck that we Texans had tonight to go outside and look up into the falling snowflakes and realize that you've found Love itself. Not the connection between two people blah blah blah Love, not even soul-mate Love. No, I'm talking about the greater, nirvana Love that you spend your whole life trying to find.
And then Patrick and I snuck up on the snowball snipers sitting on the balcony and got a few headshots. No matter how deep and philosophical your experiences here might be, there's no avoiding the fact that you're still in college.
So next time it snows on a lovely holiday like this one, go ahead and get lost between the song that rings in your head and your ideal, perfect love that transcends anyone of the opposite (or same) sex. Just make sure you don't leave yourself vulnerable to being pelted with snowballs.