I drove down to Tuscaloosa tonight for my once-a-year-or-so IEEE meeting presentation on behalf of my employer. I’m not sure why, but I decided to wander into the student center tonight and have a look around at what has changed. The official USPS post office for the campus is located on the bottom floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
In the summer of 1993 when I was at my orientation session (probably June or July), one of the people presenting to us told us that although we would have a campus mail box for any dorm room we lived in, it would change each time we moved. This person pointed out that we could rent a PO box in the post office and keep that same address for as long as we were in school. Being the practical type, I liked that idea, and I think I went down and rented a box that day. I remember talking to the counter employee and relating what we had been told. He agreed that it was a smart idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I don’t know their names, but his was one of two faces that became quite<\/em> familiar to me over the following five years. The Internet was still not widespread at that point, and I continued to keep in touch with several people through mail. I kept a close check on that box, and I can still feel the sense of warm anticipation I used to feel when I walked down to open it. I received some very special letters from some very special people over those years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometime in May of 1998, I submitted my change of address form and turned in my key. I don’t remember the specific details, but I remember feeling very strongly that the act of turning in that key was a tangible step into a new time in my life. I remember feeling a bit sad about it. That simple little box had been mine<\/em> for so long, it was almost like a friend in some ways. It didn’t seem right to me that someone else would get to use it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Several times since then I have considered sending a short letter to whoever rents that box now, with the hope that it’s actually another college student. Just a random note wishing the new owner well, and telling him\/her a little bit about me and my time at UA. I know it’s silly. That’s why I’ve never actually done it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n