The Heartbreak of My Valentine's Day

Valentine’s Day, or St. Valentine’s Day is a holiday when lovers express their affection with gifts and attention. The holiday began in the Roman festival of Lupercalia, beginnizng in mid-February. The festival which originally celebrated the coming of spring. Included the pairing off of women with men by lottery. At the end of the 5th century, Pope Gelasius I replaced Lupercalia with St. Valentine’s Day. It came to be celebrated as a day of romance. 

Everyone celebrates Valentine's Day in their own ways. In my case the closest I have ever been to having a valen tine was in elementary school when everyone made special boxes and brought little candies in for the entire class. This year however I suffered my first real heartbreak on Valentine's Day. 

My one true love left me. Did I treat her poorly? Yes I took her for granted and now I must pay the price. Will I get her back? Yes. That however is not the point. I have been with her for over 3 years she is my first true love. Her name, Aspen. Aspen is a 2016 Blacked out Chevy Colorado.

My first car! My grandmother made it a priority of hers that her youngest grandchild would get the first car they wanted. She put away money starting at my 10th birthday. Her along with myself were able to make that dream a reality. I was able to put money in the stock market and make the money needed to make the monthly payments on the car of my dreams.

Aspen has now had to face the brutality of the Ada winters. I let her down. I left her low on gas and outside as brutal temperatures hit the Village of Ada. She suffered a cracked valve due to ice buildup. This Valentine's Day I had to give her up and send her into the shop.

Aspen and I have been through good days and bad. She has carried district trophies and tears. She has held dance parties in her tailgate. She has slid off roads in ice. No matter the circumstances. The hula girl that sits on her dash and Mickey Mouse lining that covers her wheel and the feeling of driving my first car will always be my escape and will always have my heart. 

"The Tundra"

Ohio Northern's main walking area, and center of campus "The Tundra" as it is commonly referred to in reference to the home of the beloved mascot the Polar Bears is truly living up to its name as winter leaves its mark on ONU.

Ohio Northern University is a small school of about 3,500 students in the even smaller town of Ada, Ohio. Now when a young football player is visiting in February from Michigan and the coaches touring him around refer to the barren surface made of mostly frozen dirt, he may not think much of it, but if that same young athlete lived in Florida until the age of 13 perspective might change a little. That was me.

I don't think I will ever get used to the "charm of the Midwest" as my cousin seems to refer to it often. Maybe it's because I will never get past the temperature, maybe it's because I will never get past the snow, or maybe it's just because it will never be home for me. I grew up in Tampa loving the sunshine 360 days out of the 365 days in the year, the weekend trips to Disney, and the ocean being less than a stone throw away most of the time. The Tundra however has a bit of a different feel to it as my new home than my previous ones. Ohio has some distinct qualities about it that have decided to be on full display as students return to ONU. One, tree cover is minimal thus allowing the oh so famous "Ada Winds" to carry windchills down degrees at a time with gust ever so prevalent on the Tundra. The next would be ice, Winter Storm Gia of course brought snow and a frigid reminder that winter was still upon us, but it is what it has left behind that students are still seeing across campus. As students look to be ice skating from class to class yet wearing boots instead of skates as layers of ice lace the ground, the roads, and walk paths every way you turn. Now of course the Ohio Northern staff is working feverishly to clear walks and put salt down across any patch of ice they find, but if you look across the tundra it is quite easy to see, or sometimes hear the victims of the Winter Tundra of Ohio Northern. 

Still Winter Storm Harper barres down on the little old town of Ada. Expected to drop more snow and ice on a campus already nicely covered. It looks as if the Tundra will be living up to its name for the next couple weeks as students, faculty, and staff make their way across campus.