I really cannot think of a better event to capstone this school year. With the selling of the Penndel apartments coming in matter of months, this truly was the last event that the Penndel R.H.A. team has will ever put on. And while we could over-sentimentalize every “last” of Penndel, (guys, this is the last time I’ll brush my teeth in Penndel), this particular event deserves an article all of its own.

I knew this event would be a good one when I arrived in the parking lot Thursday afternoon to see the hard work of Mike Sipla and Co. (otherwise known as Campus Services) hanging all of the string lights across the sets of buildings. From A to E, D to G, these lights shone in the setting of the day to be not only pretty but also a testament to the thought and effort that went into this event.

On my walk to the lot, the music from speakers began to permeate the air and create a mood. I would consider myself essentially music illiterate, but even I can recognize how much music contributes to an event; I do not think that the party would have been the same without it.

Mikayla and the rest of the R.H.A crew put on an event that truly held to every idea that one has ever associated with the neighborhood block party of their childhoods. Along with the music, there was good food, sidewalk chalk, and real Rita’s water ice. There was even a pinata that hung across the parking lot, knocked down just a little too easily with one easy golf swing from Adam Green (maybe we should blindfold next time?). And the dancing was a fun time had by those who participated. Whether you dove head first into every new activity introduced, or if you sat on the side and ate water ice and mac and cheese on the stoop the entire time (i.e me), it’s safe to say that this event will go down in Penndel history as not only the last event, but one of the best block parties ever hosted.

The ending of the event was certainly bittersweet. The event was over nearly as soon as the sparklers died out, and that was sad considering the night could have gone on much longer since it was the last event. I don’t know the logistics of how long events can run, or how long music can be played, but it would have been nice to have an extra long event under the circumstances. Maybe I’m now over-sentimentalizing this event, but I thought it could have gone on well into the night, especially considering we had the lights above us to brighten the parking lot.

Regardless, the event was great. If anything, the events abrupt ending mirrored the seemingly abrupt selling of Penndel. While in the works for years, the student body did not know of this until the second half of the semester.

And that’s okay.

We have to learn to welcome change, as it occurs all throughout life. Going into my senior year, I will have to welcome an entire new slew of changes. Graduation, career, marriage, and even children are really not as far away as I would like these changes to be sometimes (okay, maybe some are still a little ways off). But that is the beauty about these various stages of life; they eventually end. Our time on this campus, regardless of the res site we live in, is limited. That is what makes those memories so precious. Just like WWC or the days of my grandmother’s time at 18th & Arch, Penndel will go down as another beautiful facet of Cairn’s history. We can look forward to the years ahead, because we have a foundation of Christ and a character that was built while we studied, ate, prayed, slept, and breathed in these lettered houses.