Each day, each event is measured in hours, minutes, seconds and then lost to eternity.
A precious few are not.
They linger. Committed to memory. Treasured. Four years at Virginia Tech are just that:
Timeless.
It's the first time you stepped into a classroom as a freshman. It's the time you took your first test, ate your first Philly cheese steak at Owens, or attended your first class in McBryde 100. It's the first time you went to a football game at Lane Stadium.
Those moments linger.
At the beginning of April, I sat down in the Collegiate Times office and looked through the hundreds of different newspapers that have graced the newsstands over the past four years. There, I found my first story.
The article was about Scott Spangler, a freshman soccer player with some amazing skills. I'll be honest, it was not the best piece of work I've ever done, but I spent hours on it. I took the time to interview him in his room. I talked to Coach Oliver Weiss and crafted what I thought was a masterpiece.
I was proud of that article when it was published, and my name stood alone underneath the headline. Reading it last month for the first time in four years gave me a good laugh, and made me realize how far I had come.
Since that day, I've had countless of articles published. I can't even begin to think of how many I've written since the beginning of my freshman year. I just don't have the time to look through and count them all.
From baseball to wrestling, if you name it, I covered it in some fashion. I remember writing a wrestling story about three years ago while Tom Brands was still the head coach.
Brands is a very intense individual and is extremely intimidating when you talk to him. I didn't know a thing about the wrestling team. Now, I relied on him for all of my info. So, I began to fire questions left and right. He didn't hesitate on any question, and after the interview was finished, we started to part ways when he turned back.
"Hey Clark, you ask tough questions," the 1996 Olympic gold medalist said. "I like that."
Those few words from a guy as respected as Tom Brands really spoke volumes. It was at that very moment that I knew that writing was more than just a job. It was a passion.
That passion has led me to places I'll never forget. In my four years, I've traveled to Boston, Pittsburgh, Washington, D.C., Charlotte, Atlanta, Jacksonville, New Orleans, Miami and other college towns plastered throughout the east coast. I spent hundreds of hours on the road. Probably the most memorable trip was to Durham when the men's basketball team took on Duke earlier this season.
One of my best friends and graduate manager for the team, Ben Thompson, came up to me during warm-ups before the game. We talk before every game as a ritual, but this time he guaranteed victory.
Shot after shot fell, and the Hokies were on their way to upsetting the Blue Devils. There were so many distraught Cameron Crazies hanging over me. Every time something major happened, Ben and I would look at each other and smile. Tech won that day, 69-67 in overtime.
That is one of those times that linger.
The times don't stop there. It's the trip to the Sugar Bowl and the win over No. 1 North Carolina inside a steamy Cassell Coliseum. It's the time spent on a journey to Atlanta to watch the Hokies come back from a 14-point deficit on a Thursday night game on ESPN.
Times like those will never fade.
Growing up mere miles from Blacksburg, I always wanted to be a Hokie. I only filled out one college application as a senior in high school. I lived, breathed and loved Virginia Tech. I wore the same raggedy old 'VT' hat every day to school for five years.
Football games were a way of life for me. My family had season tickets long before Michael Vick was a blip on the radar. We sat on row NNN in section 20. My spot was all the way against the wall, where I stood during every game. Those were the times of Maurice DeShazo and Jim Druckenmiller.
Once I was a freshman in 2003, I gave up my hallowed spot to stand in the student section. That season was the most memorable for me, which included the hurricane game against Texas A&M and the upset of No. 2 Miami.
From the beginning of the 2004 season until the bowl game in Atlanta, I gave up the orange effect shirts and jeans for a polo shirt and khakis. I sat perched above the Lane Stadium crowd and watched as others cheered on the Hokies, as I sat in the silence of the press box.
Every time "Enter Sandman" began to blare over the sound system, it killed me inside to not be able to jump up and down. I fought like crazy to keep from yelling on a third down or a punting situation.
I hated it, but I loved it at the same time. Covering the Hokies was an opportunity I will never forget. I learned about the tons of people it takes to work an event as large as a Tech game.
It's the people like sports information director Dave Smith who don't get noticed by the average fan. It's the statistics coordinator who keeps track of the smallest details for the media.
All of that is gone now. The time of covering Virginia Tech football could very well be over for me. Do you think I'm sad? No way.
I had the best time ever. I made connections and met people I would never have met without the opportunities I had over the last four years. I accomplished a goal I set before I started my first day of classes.
Mom, Dad, I did it. I did what I wanted to do. I reached the finish line.
What a great time.
I've only cried twice as a student at Tech. It is crazy how they've happened only 16 days apart. The hours, minutes and seconds spent writing the countless numbers of articles for the Collegiate Times are now over. I devoted four years of my life to this paper, and I'm proud of it.
My time may be up — but the memories are treasured forever.