As bass singer Avi Kaplan of Pentatonix's voice reverberated through the speakers and the audience members' chests, a deeper roar was growing in mine.
I didn't understand what it was until the end of UPC's concert Thursday, Aug. 29, but when I did, it came upon me so suddenly I had no choice but to yield to its fury.
Hoping my 1,000 other Auburn Family members would help me, I cracked open my lips and expelled the breathtaking cry,
"Waaaaaaaar..."
And incredibly, those around me were caught up in the involuntary, powerful moment and joined me, their voices melding into something majestic.
As I guided them into the crescendo, culminating in "...eagle, hey!" I had finally done what many Auburn freshmen dream of doing: I led the Auburn game day cry.
It lasted only 6 seconds.
But within those 6 seconds, I checked off almost everything on my Auburn University bucket list, and it had only taken six years to do so.
With my graduation looming, it made me conscious of time and how fleeting it is. People say they blink and are forty; imagine how quickly your four, or six, years of college will fly by.
I hope you have the chance to experience the successes I've had and the mistakes I've made.
I've failed classes, used all my GAPs, wished I had more and learned lessons from years of immaturity.
I've gone to football games, lost my voice, bled blue and orange and bled red in boyish scuffles defending the honor of Auburn's football team against LSU fans.
I've had nights I'll never forget and some I'll never remember at bars and fraternity houses.
I've broken nearly every rule while living in the dorms, but nothing illegal in an on-campus dorm.
I've made enemies and forgiven them, and made friends who I hope will last a lifetime.
I've loved and lost, loved and lost and chosen to stoically love again.
I've gone from an out-of-state student confused whether the mascot was Aubie or an eagle to a member of the Auburn Family explaining the story of both to others.
I read the creed and believe in it wholeheartedly, hoping my peers set their life to its course because it won't lead them astray.
Poet Robert Herrick told the virgins to make much of time, and Robin Williams told us it meant carpe diem, "seize the day."
So, make the most of your time left at Auburn, because when it's gone, you'll never get it back, and while you'll always be an Auburn alumnus or alumna, you will never be an Auburn student again.
I wish I would have joined an a capella club, been more active in intramural sports, cultivated new interests, studied abroad, found something to devote my life to and engendered more friendships that will last a lifetime.
But my time is coming to an end, and wishing wounds the heart. Your time may be ending as well, or just beginning, but make the most of it, and ensure the pages of your story at Auburn are written in indelible ink.
That's what college is: sweet, poignant and then? Over.
Leave a legacy, and learn something beyond the major on your diploma, something that lasts forever.
The thing I've learned at Auburn, and not from any single event, person or class, but the culmination of everything?
I believe in Auburn and love it.
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