School Days

Before the new semester rush starts and things get really chaotic, I have to take a moment to reflect on what it's like to be 32 and facing the first day of school for a new school year, as a student, and watching freshman kids race around in new-found freedom as they discover what it's like to be away from home for the first time.
In a lot of cases, it's not pretty. The coming-of-age experience is not one that I would want to live over.
As I've left my office each day this week to go home, I made the realization that my office happens to be across the street from the very big, very crowded Delta Gamma sorority house.
They're welcoming all the "Dee Gees" back this week and Elm Street is teeming with young girls in tank tops and shorts, chanting group-think sayings and mind-washing songs. They're getting ready to start their own "rush," which will include ushering in a new class of "Dee Gees."
I thought someone was playing a prank on me and I was going to be told I was on Candid Camera.
The young men, of course, don't know what to do with themselves. One or two fraternity houses are on either side of the Dee Gee house. It's like a G-Rated version of the Playboy Mansion, at least the part that we see on the street.
I try to understand the need for sororities and fraternities, but I'm just not the type. If it helps freshmen adjust, then I guess the groups play their part.
I wouldn't want to go back to those days. When we were freshmen and underage, we hung out in the fraternity houses because the beer was free and no one carded us.
We all grow up, thank goodness.
Admittedly, I like where I am, but I am also the first one to admit how hard it is. At 32, I'm exposed to the mischief of freshmen on a college campus in the middle of No Man's Land. Unless they're going to drive to OKC or Dallas or find some cows to tip, they're trapped in this college town until their parents see their first semester grades and decide if the investment is worth it or not.