The week was capped by Boat Club Dinner, of course, a truly festive event in Trinity Hall's newly-renovated hall. It looks superb now, and we had plenty of "heavies" (alumni) back to appreciate it. I had lots of fun catching up with people, hugging, dancing, taking pictures, hugging some more... And then it was time to go home. And something happened that has started happening with unnerving regularity this year: I got disproportionately sad on the walk home. Partly it was because everyone had scattered and I was left alone -- a sharp contrast to the sociality of the night. By the time I got to my room, it was partly because my leather shoes had made my toes very sore. But really, I was way too upset for such trivial things to have been more than a mild inconvenience. Why was I suddenly so distraught?
My friend Martin shrewdly answered that question the next day: it's because I'm sad that the whole Cambridge thing is ending soon -- so each miniature ending magnifies emotions that are already running close to the surface. I hope I don't finish off every party night in tears or spend the whole next day feeling melancholy, but staring down the straightaway toward completion stirs up the froth in one's psyche. Fortunately, in this case, even the sad mini-ending took a happy turn. I managed to catch up to a friend who'd left for home before me, and with hugs administered, my worldview became rosier again.
