May 26th, 2016. Graduation Day.
It was not even three months ago, and it literally feels like it was a lifetime ago. “I cannot wait to leave this place,” or “I’m so tired of high-school” were my favorite words to say over the last four years. Old people will look at you and say “trust me, you are going to miss this,” and you will always respond with “I promise, I will not miss any of this,” but what they do not tell you about graduating, is that you WILL miss this. You probably will not miss your homeroom, waking up around 7 AM (or if you are like me, then you get up at 7:45 when class starts at 7:55) every single day, the cafeteria food, or the snotty-nosed freshmen who think the world revolves around them.
However, you will miss your friends, which honestly, is a given. I am immensely blessed with overly great friends that I would not have survived high school without. There will always be drama, and bickering, and fallouts. The best part, which they also do not mention, is that the making up and loving each other after the fuss is one of the greatest feelings; just knowing that you have friends who will always be there at the end of the day is comforting enough to make it all worth it, no matter how mad they make you.
If you live south of the Mason-Dixon line, then I promise high school football is what the guys in your school live for and what all of the girls bat their eyes for. No matter how many games you attend, you will always wish you had been to more. The band, the cheerleaders, the fans, the players, the pep-rallies, the adrenaline when your team is inches away from a touchdown- none of that can ever be replaced. Appreciate it while you have it, and pick the football game over going out and getting drunk with your friends. You will thank yourself later.
My high-school experience would not have been nearly as enjoyable had I not been so involved. You will miss your clubs and organizations where you devote so much of your time, even though during those all-day long events, you will wish you were anywhere else.
You WILL miss your teachers. Trust me. Everyone has those teachers who they can approach about anything at any given time and receive the advice they are seeking. Those teachers who will slip you an extra point here or there, or extend a deadline for you when you have had a long weekend DO NOT exist in the real world, so take advantage of that while you have it.
Honestly, your high school years are the greatest years of your life. You may not see it now, but trust me, one day, not too long after graduating, you will look back and wish you could go back, even if it is for half of a second.
