16 April 2021 – Tonight, I was reminded of how far I have come, in good ways and in bad. When I came back from paddle boarding, the once empty parking garage was full, and there were tons of college kids in the lobby of my hotel. There were cases of beer and Truly everywhere. It was a madhouse. It took me twenty minutes to get an elevator. (I am only on the 4th floor, so normally I would have walked, but I was sore from paddle boarding and wasn’t sure I would make it.) When I finally got on the elevator with 6 college students and 12 cases of beer plus 6 extravagantly decorated coolers, I found out that over 300 college kids checked into the same hotel I am staying in. There were college students from ECU (East Carolina University), some from CSU (Charleston Southern University), some from Sigma Nu fraternity. They are here for a college formal – nothing special, just for fun.

Well, when you are a girl like me who went to colleges without fraternities or sororities who got married halfway through college, you have no idea what this really means. Is it like the movies, Revenge of the Nerds and Sydney White come to mind, or what? Well, as I soon learned, it’s craziness. When I got to my room, I jumped in the shower. By the time I got out, I could hear shouting, laughing, running and screeching. These college kids were on the beach below my nice beachfront balcony, drinking and having a great time. Others were running through the halls from one room to the next and shouting between balconies. It was so much that, at first, I considered leaving and driving home instead of waiting until tomorrow. I decided to stick it out.

I went down the boardwalk and explored Ripley’s Believe it or Not and The Gay Dolphin. I watched people ziplining and doing that bungee swing thing. I figured that when I got back to the hotel, they would all be so drunk that it would be calmed down. I decided to stop at the patio bar and have a drink and a bite to eat. While I sat there, I could hear the guys up on their balconies yelling at each other and throwing things at each other. I could hear kids cheering on beer bongs and even felt a couple of beer pong balls hit me. At one point, I felt what I thought was rain but soon realized was a case of beer hitting the ground after falling from the 8th-floor balcony followed by a whole bunch of oh shits. These kids are having a blast. I am a little jealous.

I was always the good kid. Not that I didn’t have fun, but I never had a lot of fun. In high school, I was mostly responsible. I only remember two nights that were questionable (RB party and graduation night). When I was in college, I was mostly boring. I remember my first weekend at college. The Dead Milkmen put on a concert. Everyone was having a great time, but I was too afraid to even talk to anyone. I was working in the dining hall and had met this guy Fran from New Jersey. The night of the concert, I ran into him, and he introduced me to his roommate Dave from Connecticut. We hung out that night, and it was fun, but it wasn’t college kids in Myrtle Beach fun. I only went to two parties while I was in college, and the drink of choice was The Beast, Milwaukee’s Best. I’m not too fond of most beer, so I didn’t really drink.

So why am I jealous of these college kids? Because they are enjoying being kids. They have their entire life to be responsible adults; why not have some fun this weekend? I wish I hadn’t always been so serious. I wish I had remembered that life is hard and you should enjoy the moments you can. As I sat at the bar writing this, two of those college students came and sat down, college students from ECU. As we talked, I asked them why they were drinking at the bar with an old lady rather than with their friends. Their answer was because it all seemed so childish. I assured them that they could be responsible college students without being boring. I encouraged them to have fun with their friends because it ends too soon. They said, that’s okay, we will sit here and drink. Once they finished their drinks, they looked at me and asked, “Is it okay if we go hang out with our friends?” I laughed at them and said I would even pay their tab. As they left, they turned around and said, “Thanks. I think we will thank you for this for many years to come.”

I hope the college students from ECU enjoy their weekend and their friends. I hope we all learn to enjoy our time and our friends more. We can be responsible adults and still have fun. That’s why we know our limits, someone created Uber and Lyft, and there is plenty of water and Tylenol for those hangovers. Have fun and enjoy.