Falling Into Place

Falling Into Place

I love fall: the smell of the crisp, cool air; sipping hot apple cider or Oktoberfest beer. Soon, construction-paper jack-o-lanterns and hand-traced turkeys — with scribbles of color, a little glue and those googly eyes — will make their way from my preschoolers’ backpacks onto our fridge. The din of a football game in the background brings a little excitement to the mundaneness of ordinary Sunday afternoons, even though in combination with playoff baseball it means I won’t be seeing much of my husband for a while.

There’s no better place to be in fall than a college campus. You can sense the excitement in the novel atmosphere. The fresh-faced first years, and here at Drexel, the long-lost friends who shriek at the sight of each other and embrace after a co-op cycle or quarter abroad.

Fall is always a time for reunions and new beginnings, but the opening of Gerri C. LeBow Hall marks an incredible time of transformation for the College and those of us who call it home. I love watching people’s faces light up as they walk into our atrium for the first time. Beauty and architectural integrity really have quite the effect on mood!

I recently had the opportunity to scope out the freshly painted office I’ll be moving into next week. It inspired me to toss and recycle much of the mess at my old desk; I even managed to purge some of the magazines I have been hoarding for so long, because I love this layout or that theme issue. It wasn’t easy, but it’ll be worth it. I can’t wait to decorate those bare walls and empty shelves with mementos and treasures, but I think I’ll just appreciate the calm of my blank slate for a few days first.

As I peered out my fifth floor window and took in the bustling urban landscape below, I couldn’t help but think about how, when I started working here six years ago in a shared office in the basement of Matheson, I never imagined that soon enough I’d be doing the job that I love from an office with a view in a modern high-rise.

Promoting this great College and telling your amazing stories was a pleasure then, and it’s even better now. Am I lucky or what?