To the senior who cannot wait to graduate,
I don’t care how many times you say you won’t, you WILL miss your mom. When your mom drops you off at college and you hug her for the last time for the next few months, your heart will ache. The one person you could always count on being there for you no matter what, through every illness, big exam, and heartbreak, will still be there. However, instead of just being in the other room, she will be miles away on the other end of a phone. NEVER take for granted what you have right in front of you. Later on you’ll wish you could go back, and you can’t.
Home is no longer home. You will return home after a while away, and as soon as you walk through the doorframe, you will feel the difference. You will feel the movies your family watched in the living room without you. You will feel every one of your brother’s band concerts that you missed. You will be bombarded with smells that you don’t remember, picture frames on the wall that were never there before, and food in the fridge your mom NEVER used to buy. There will be one less towel hanging on the hook in the bathroom, one less toothbrush in the cup by the sink. Home, the place where you spent most of your childhood, is no longer home. It is different. Everything is different.
Some friendships/relationships were only meant to last as long as high school did, and that is ok. It took me a long time to come to terms with this.
Never underestimate how much homework you are going to have. Remember the time that you forgot to study for a test and you passed anyway? Let me tell you something. Listen closely… THAT WILL NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN. College is amazing, don't get me wrong, but it will be the hardest four years of your life. So, study. Do the extra credit. Read the damn book like the professor told you too. You can thank me later.
You WILL break down. Your freshman year at college is going to be extremely tough for many reasons. Homework will appear as if it will be the death of you. It is NOT easy. Don’t let someone tell you it is. The stress will get to you. Not being able to cuddle up to your mom and cry will get to you. It is going to be hard, but I promise, someday it will be worth it. Just breathe, and move forward.
Everything is about to change. You will be at a new school, in a new environment. Surrounded by new people. All familiarity will be gone. You will never be apart of a high school student section again. You will never go to prom. Teachers who you once saw everyday, the ones who helped you get through school, will just be a memory. Your dog won’t be there to greet you at the door when you get home from school.
Everything you know at this very moment, will change. Cherish the time you have left instead of trying to speed it up. Quit wishing for graduation to come. Because it is coming no matter what, whether you want it to or not. So relax. Go to the baseball game. Dance at prom. Hang out with the friends you may never pick first. Live the life right in front of you and stop wishing for the future to come faster.
If you don’t, you’ll be wishing you had.
Love Always,
The senior who couldn’t wait leave.
