Thirteen days.
In thirteen short days, I'm leaving a world behind. I've spent 18 years building it, populating it with wonderful friends and loved ones, and soon I'm foraying into the wild space beyond.
It's kind of incredible that I've taken this long to realize it. It didn't hit me when I paid the enrollment deposit, nor when I looked at the dorms for the first time. I took my diploma in my own two hands and felt only a slight tug of relief and a sense of accomplishment. Wearing the shirt everywhere that branded me as a future Pioneer hadn't made me feel any different. It still hadn't hit me during college shopping, and picking out furniture for my room. Even meeting some new friends at my school of choice didn't really nail the coffin.
It took until I looked at one of my best friends of thirteen years, and said, "goodnight."
I've said "goodnight" to her before. Many a time I've said my goodbyes, knowing somewhere in the back of my head that I'd see her at school in a day or two. Last night was different. Now, I'm waiting three months to see her face again. That's when it hit me.
So here's my goodbye to everyone that's lived in my world, to all the people who've made me see the wonder and excitement of living life among incredible friends and family.
Goodnight.
Goodnight to all the warm summer nights, hours of laughter and stories and healthy hometown fun.
Goodnight to the frigid winter mornings, when I'd appreciate the beauty of the other face of my world under a blanket of snow.
Goodnight to sleepless evenings playing video games and talking about life and love, keeping tabs on one anothers' lives.
Goodnight to that sensation of beauty and fantasy that infected me every time I looked over the hilltops and down the mountain's drop.
Goodnight to my family, who have nurtured me and helped me to see and understand the world as I prepare to say goodbye for a while.
It's important that we, the incoming college freshman of 2016, remember to stop and appreciate for a brief moment. Though there's always a holiday break, a long weekend, or a simple call to home when we can rejoin the worlds that we've built, we're living away from these spectacular lifestyles for the next four years almost constantly.
If we forget the place we've come from, then how can we hope to identify ourselves in this formidable new land that we're diving headfirst into?
