Experience

LAUers in More Ways than One

Nermine Mufti

The year is 2002, I hold your tiny little hand and walk slowly with you on campus. Not knowing what to expect, I can slightly feel how your hands are becoming sweaty as you stride excitedly toward Shannon Hall. You are somehow apprehensive today as this time we are not coming to sit under the trees and watch LAU cats. This time coming to campus is going to be different. 

As we enter the LAU day care center, you are greeted with so much love and warmth by the teachers that soon I start to feel you relax. Before long, you are asked to join the circle of children sitting on the floor as it is almost storytelling time. To encourage you, I slowly let go of your reluctant little hand. You take one step toward the circle, and then you turn to look at me, making sure I am still here. As I try to hide the tears, I nod, reassuring you that everything is going to be all right!  

I think this was our very first special memory at LAU. This was when you learned that it is ok to let me go!

The year is 2017, we walk together on campus, only this time we are not holding hands although I so wish I can hold your huge manly hand. As soon as we both cross the upper gate, we take a few steps together, and then, without saying anything, each goes in an opposite direction; you rush to your very first class and I head toward my department. As I climb the stairs of Nicol Hall, I find myself hesitating. I become overwhelmed with a sudden urge to go check up on you in your class just as I used to do when you were in day care. I slowly turn back and decide to go catch a quick glimpse of you in your design class. As I move closer to Orme-Gray, I find you on the ground floor in a huge classroom filled with U-shaped tables and big chairs surrounded by eager students getting ready to embark on this new journey. I move a little bit closer to watch you from behind the glass.

Unlike the two-sided glass that I used to watch you from in day care, this is a transparent one where I can easily be exposed, and for sure before long you are able to spot me. As I timidly smile from behind the glass, I see you nodding at me as if to reassure me that everything is going to be OK. I smile as tears of pride roll down my cheeks.  

This is our second special memory at LAU. Right here on your first day of classes, it suddenly dawns on me that our roles have switched; this time it is me who seems to be learning that it is OK to let you go!

Today, the year is 2022, twenty years later from that first day you stepped into the day care center, we proudly watch you graduate from the School of Architecture and Design. Having you with me on campus, throughout these years, has always given me the utmost privilege, extreme pride, and a heightened sense of security, and as such has made every day a memorable one for me and you. As you get ready to spread your wings and design a new chapter in your life, I wish you all the things you hope to accomplish in your future quests.

Nermine Mufti