I know that high school is a short part of life, and in the big scheme of things it doesn’t matter as much as I think it does. However, right now it is all that matters. Being successful, making memories and escaping needless drama is all I can focus on. And I think that’s okay. In fact, I’m most looking forward to being able to focus on the difficult simplicity of high school for the last year.
Yes, I did just describe high school using both difficult and simple. But while it is difficult in many ways, in comparison to what we’re going to face after high school, it’s simple. Problems we face in high school are predictable and manageable. While they seem so large and so difficult, in reality, they are troubles faced by others every day. This is the last year I will have my amazing group of friends just five minutes away to help me if I need them. This is the last year that I’ll know exactly how to get everywhere around my tiny little hometown. This is the last year of familiarity, and I look forward to reveling in it.
Which is why I’m extremely nervous for the end of high school. This week marks the beginning of the end of all that I’m used to, all that I’m familiar with. Once the end hits, I don’t know how I’m going to take it. The water works will be a common occurrence. I mean really, how can one prepare for the day that they will be leaving the people they have known since the first grade? I have lived life with these same kids for twelve years. We’ve grown up together, we’ve made each other who we are, and now it’s time to leave. More than anything I’m scared to say goodbye.
This year makes me feel a little bipolar. Sometimes I’m thrilled with being a senior, being at the top of the school, feeling free to do whatever I want and to not care what other people think. I’m excited for the adventures I’m going to have and the memories I’m going to make. But on the other hand, every moment is a little sad, knowing it’s another “last”. Tomorrow is my last first football game. I’ve already had my last band camp, last first day of school, last summer as a child. This whole “beginning of the end” is really hard to handle sometimes. But I know that when high school ends, something else will begin. And maybe, just maybe, it will be better than high school! If that’s possible…
~Lily
Breaking the Stereotypes 