If you know classic rock, you'll recognize that as a line from a song by the Kinks. What I'm going to discuss was from my college years, but the point remains valid.
During 2010, my fraternity chapter was transitioning from Tau Epsilon Phi (TEP) to Tau Delta Phi (TDP). TEP national was in disarray, and we disassociated, and, in what appeared to be a happy circumstance, TDP was trying to organize a group at Penn State. Since our TEP chapter grew from a defunct TDP chapter, it looked like a return to our roots.
Unfortunately, the TDP group never became a chapter, and the men basically abandoned the house. The house needed work, and could not attract enough pledges and new brothers to sustain it financially, and that created a kind of negative feedback loop. This weekend, I was one of a small group of Brothers who came back for something of a final work session. We were cleaning the house in preparation for its sale.
Adding to the mess that the former residents left behind was damage from a break-in. Broken windows had been boarded up, but other damage remained. Lots of old, junk furniture needed to be removed, and the debris needed to be cleaned as best we could. In an unheated house that didn't have running water.
There were about eight of us performing this labor of love, hauling trash and old furniture, sweeping and vacuuming, and sharing some old stories along the way. Being in the house for (probably) the final time, I could hear the voices of my Brothers and Sisters, could see us all when we were young and invincible, could smell and taste some of the incredible times of growing up.
I'm forever grateful for my time at the TEP house. Since graduation, whereever I've lived, 328 East Foster Avenue always remained my house and home, and State College, my home town.
One of the great features of both town and campus is the vitality, the constant change. Some of the places I loved as an undergrad are long gone. Sadly, the TEP house has joined that list. So we ended our night with one final beer and a toast to the happy memories of the home we all shared.
