These two benches, which sit outside the entrance to Marston Hall at Iowa State University, may appear to be completely normal benches. Boring even. Nothing you could directly observe about these specific benches would ever be able to give you a hint to the contrary. But to me, these benches are anything but ordinary. In this spot, my universe was forever changed.
In the summer of 1998, my mother and I sat together on one of these benches while on a college visit trip to Iowa State. Well, it may have been these benches. In my memory they were made of wood, but memory is hazy. I suppose in 20 years it’s not ridiculous to think a bench would have been replaced.
It was on one bench or another in this spot outside Marston Hall that I sat with my mom, in the summer between my junior and senior year of high school, and made the decision to become a Cyclone. This single decision in this unassuming spot set the direction of my entire life. I become a cardinal-and-gold-bleeding loyal son (forever true) made most of my closest friends, met a girl—all to eventually fall in love, have two kids, and buy a Cyclone Bus. None of that would have happened if not for a decision made on a warm summer afternoon, sitting on a bench.
It makes me curious how many similar stories are floating around campus. There are 34,992 students enrolled at Iowa State just this fall, not to mention the hundreds of thousands of alumni like my wife and me who have roamed the same buildings and sidewalks. How many other spots have borne witness to similar life-changing events? I wonder how many have occurred just at the Campanile alone? Clearly that’s a much more obvious location. I wonder if it’s possible that anyone else has sat on my bench and changed their life the same way I changed mine?
Nobody can know. The bench keeps its secrets well. But if you’ve got a story I’d love to hear it.
