When you look up the definition of the word Transition in the dictionary the following appears:

movement, passage, or change from one position, state, stage,subject, concept, etc., to another; change.

My early 20’s have consisted of nothing but “transitions”. The constant change of where I have lived, people I have been around, and where I have worked have made the past few years a whirlwind of change . Some altercations streamline into my life effortlessly, while others feel like diving head-first into the shallow end of the pool.

This week I flipped through my parents Oklahoma State University’s 1984 yearbook, The Redskin, to compile pictures for the Fashion History unit of my classes. As I flipped through the pages of “Greek Life” filled with pictures of Coke Dates, Sperry’s, Freshman Follies, and Short Denim Shorts it was easy to draw the comparisons to my time in a sorority at OSU. When reviewing the pages covering my major, formerly called Home Economics and now called Family and Consumer Sciences, I could think back to sitting in the same room as the pictures below, cursing as I had to sew, seam rip, and redo projects late into the night of my last semester of college. When i reached the section of the yearbook reminiscing about the 1984 football team and reading the slogan “Winning isn’t Everything” when discussing Cowboy Football…well let’s just say this season could also be summed up by the same slogan.

My favorite picture from this Redskin is of clothes hanging on a chain link fence. I swear it could be at 405 North Duncan, the old rent house I lived in, that had a chain link fence in the backyard and the washer and dryer in the garage. There were many freezing nights that I dreaded having to go outside, lift up the garage door and get my laundry. And many hot days in August that hanging towels and shirts on the fence meant not forgetting to grab them before it got dark outside.

It is easy to draw correlations to my time at OSU with these pictures and to see how little has seemed to change over the last 30 years. With each new beginning life throws our way there will always remain constant variables that seem to stay the same no matter how many times we transition. For me OSU is one of these constants, along with a plethora of memories from my parents home in McKinney, friends that now live all over the country, and family that has supported me time and time again. Although it may be easier to stay in our comfort zones, surrounded by these constants, each of us approaches transitions in our life where we have to know when it is the right time to simply move out and move on…