Change.

CHANGE.

To make or become different.

What comes to mind when you see or hear the word CHANGE?

Probably a recent experience you’ve had that had a profound impact on your life.

Or maybe you think of the stuff mingling with the lint in the bottom of your pocket. Anyway, get that image out of your head because today I’m talking about the first kind of change.

The kind of change that affects every part of your life. You can’t live a single day without changing some part of you or your life. That’s a given.

But do you associate a negative feeling with change? That it’s ever-lurking and waiting to destroy every ounce of happiness you’ve ever felt in your life?

Or do you just feel that change is always near? That it’s the only thing you can count on?

I’ve been debating with myself since about age 12 about whether or not change is evil.

And I feel that for the most part it is. I think I started to feel this way in the sixth grade.

Aren’t those wonderful junior high memories flooding back to you now? Remember the days when all the boys were starting to get acne and the girls were dying to get their periods. Oh, how stupid we were.

But finally, the boys graduated to stealing tampons out of purses and stopped snapping the girls’ bras.

My first bout with the evil force came in the middle of a dreary December. One night I was home alone. I stepped out of the shower and noticed how incredibly long my bangs had gotten over the past couple of weeks.

I decided it was time for a change.

I went and grabbed the good scissors. (You know, the ones with the yellow handles. The ones that my brother almost cut my thumb off with a few years earlier.)

I started cutting. Well, they weren’t exactly even so I kept on cutting… and cutting… and cutting… until I had a nice half-inch of hair sprouting out of my forehead.

Then my mom and dad came home. Another quarter inch came off because it seemed I hadn’t cut my new bangs straight enough. I dreaded the next day at school. Luckily, it was Spirit Week and Monday was Hat and Shades Day.

I hid under the biggest hat I could find, knowing that if one of the voice-crackin’, puberty-hitting, I-finally-got-hair-under-my-armpits boys grabbed my cap — I was dead.

It was only a matter of time before the vultures would come straight for me. There would be no circling. It would be a direct attack. I would be instantly embarrassed and ridiculed for as long as my hair took to grow.

And let me tell you. It wasn’t soon enough, especially when I got a perm, but that’s another story.

After Operation Bang Chop, I decided change can rear a pretty ugly face at times, but it sure makes for a good laugh in high school.

Change is definitely a hard thing to accept. It may not always be as evil as puberty or a bad haircut. Actually some pretty cool things come with change.

Fall.

Fall is my favorite. The weather is cool and breezy, and if you can find a spot in central campus to stretch out in the sun, the feeling you get by just closing your eyes and taking it all in can make you feel miles away from homework, problems, anything that you don’t want to think about.

The leaves go from deep green to burnt-orange. They drift to the ground in the soft fall breeze. And it’s so fun to crunch ’em after they’ve dried out and turned all brown. There’s really not a better feeling than a good leaf crunch.

That’s when change is good. Really good.

It’s so weird. Change can bring you to jubilation. Then in the blink of an eye, change can bring you to your knees. It can make you wonder if anything you have ever done or felt in your life matters anymore.

You get a great job offer with the company you are dying to work for, but you and your significant other have to choose whether to move to the same place or leave each other behind.

Life’s tough, and change is part of life. It’s something I try to come to grips with everyday. Then I go to Iowa City and everything gets screwed up again.

Anyway, do what you have to to get through change. I’m here for ya’. I’m even here as long as it takes to grow your hair out. Call your dad if you have to. That’s what I do. Thanks mom and dad, for being there. Talk to your friends. They’re always good for support.

Nine years later my best friends still kid me about my ever-famous haircut. I always retort by asking them if they’d mind if I did their hair.

Maybe some things never change.

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April Samp is a junior in journalism and mass communication from Eldora.