Cat with a Chat

Welcome to Cat With A Chat, my weekly blog documenting my last semester of undergraduate school at Augustana College! My name is Lexi Woodcock, and you can learn more about me and my experience here and by staying up to date on these entries. Together, we will navigate my final weeks at Augustana and reflect on who I am and the young woman I am becoming as I prepare to enter the next chapter of my story.

This week marks the beginning of the second half of the spring semester, meaning I am already halfway done with my final semester of college ever. Crazy, right? Part of me feels like I just got here, while the other half of me is rearing to get out the door and open the next one. It’s a weird feeling, existing in an in-between space of holding on and letting go.

Last week, I vacationed away for Spring Break to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee with my boyfriend, Ronde, whom I met here as a First-Year at Augustana. For 5 nights and 5 days, we were surrounded by nothing but the wilderness. It was so serene. We stayed in a little A-frame cabin straight out of my Pinterest board with a hot tub and sauna. After spending our days hiking and exploring the great outdoors, we would come back and unwind in the hot tub, letting the stillness of the woods wash over us.

This trip was our second Spring Break vacation we had gone on together, with last year spent in Tucson, Arizona. We hiked there as well— as it’s kind of our thing. The summer before that, going into our junior year, we first trekked together through the Flatirons and Rocky Mountains of Colorado on a trip to visit my friend, Esme. In the two and a half years we have been together so far, we have made it to a total of three national parks, and we are hoping to one day make it to all 63. Only 60 to go! What started as a summer break trip to visit a mutual friend has since turned into a National Park bucket list!

But something about this trip was a little different— it was our last break. This Spring Break was probably the last time either of us will ever experience a “break” in that way. Of course, there are still vacations and getaways, but soon, those will require PTO (sigh). There’s something strange about realizing that a structure you’ve known your whole life, built-in pauses with time to step away and reset, is coming to an end. Ever since I was a kid, Spring Break has been something to look forward to, a midpoint, a breath in the middle of everything. Now, it feels more like a quiet closing.

I found myself thinking about that as we sat in the hot tub after long hikes, or when everything around us felt still. There was a sense of wanting to hold onto the moment a little longer, knowing it wouldn’t come around again in quite the same way. At the same time, there was also a growing awareness that this is what moving forward looks like—fewer pauses, more responsibility, and learning how to create those moments of rest for yourself.

As I return to campus, I’m beginning to understand that this semester is full of “lasts,” many of which I won’t fully recognize until they’ve already passed. This trip reminded me to slow down and be present, not just because it was beautiful, but because it was fleeting. And maybe that’s what makes it matter more.