If you ever have a conversation with me that lasts for more than two minutes, you will know the four basic facts of Anne-Marie Albracht.
1. I am incredibly sarcastic and sometimes blunt to the point of offense.
2. I am unapologetically obsessed with the color pink.
3. I am always hungry.
4. I am fiercely proud of my Kansas City roots.
So, dear readers whose acquaintances I have not had the privilege of making, consider us officially introduced.
The part of me most people don’t get to see, unfortunately, is also the best part of me: my family. This weekend, for the first time in three months, I got to go home to my favorite city and do absolutely nothing with my favorite people. And by nothing, I mean going on long walks critiquing the neighbors’ lawn ornaments with my dad, making a rather disturbing-looking bunny cake with my sister, and debating which church hymns Timeflies Tuesday should remix with my brother. It was the perfect weekend — with one minor exception.
On Friday night, I drove up to the University of Kansas to visit some old friends and, unfortunately, watch the Jayhawk’s tragic demise to Michigan. Tears may or may not have been shed, especially since I had to be back by 9 a.m. the next day for my sister’s soccer game.
In typical Anne-Marie fashion, my phone died as I was leaving Saturday morning and, without my GPS, I amazingly turned a 50-minute straight-shot drive on a single stretch of highway into a two-and-a-half hour affair. At one point, I couldn’t even find the highway where I was driving on a map — the paper kind or the Google kind. I was literally off the map and out of contact for the entire morning. Despite the fact the soccer game was canceled due to a singular sprinkle of rain, my absence caused quite a storm within my family.
The ordeal reminded me the extent to which college makes us unbelievably selfish people. Not in a Scrooge sort of way — just based on the fact we really only have to worry about ourselves. Our stresses are entirely egocentric: it’s all about my job, my test, my homework, my social life, etc. We care about each other, but when it comes down to it, it’s very much every man for himself.
If you can’t contact someone on their cell for two hours, you don’t worry. You assume their phone is dead and they’re fine. That’s why college is so great. On a day-to-day basis, you really aren’t expected to answer to anyone. We relish our independence and absolute freedom because it’s awesome. But it’s not everything.
Family, however, is. It wasn’t until I watched my mom burst into instant tears of relief that I realized how much she worries about me, even from halfway across the country. Our parents’ lives are exact opposites of ours. If we are only concerned about ourselves, they’re concerned only about everyone but themselves.
No matter how independent and self-sufficient we believe we are, we are nothing without our family. They worry about us nonstop. They love us nonstop. And they know us to be much more than the accumulation of four facts. They are where we come from and where we will return when all of this college nonsense is over.
It’s important to cherish these college years, but at the end of the day, remember to charge your phone and call your mom.
Anne-Marie’s column runs biweekly Tuesdays. She can be reached at a.albracht@cavalierdaily.com.
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