Dear High School Me,

I know very well that you’ve been dreaming of the big college move since you first walked through those high school doors. Only four more years! Right now, I know that seems like an eternity, but time goes faster than you will ever believe. Soon enough, you’ll be out of this town, and you can give up childish things for the land of higher education. You can officially start to call yourself an adult. But the truth is, you’ll never feel more like a child in your life. I say that in the most non-condescending way possible, because when you get to college, we are all in the same position of starting anew, lost in the supermarket without our moms.

Here’s what you don’t realize: You’re going to lose so many precious things.

I’m writing this letter as a plea for you to stop rushing your life away. You’ll never truly appreciate what you have right now until you’re sitting in my place: alone without your best friends, quite overwhelmed, and worried about where you’re going after this. But I just want to take the time to remind you how much you have going for you right now and how many things you will never again have when you grab that diploma and walk off the stage into the unknown. You will move away from the familiarity you’ve come to take for granted. The real world starts now, and I don’t know if you can ever be completely ready for what lies ahead.

In these sacred years, you have a hometown. You can’t drive down a street without having a “One time right here” memory. While the world is a large place, your world has been in these city limits; you’ve taken and given bits of your life in these houses and on these roads. But there’s going to come a day real soon, sooner than you understand, when you will be in a place you can’t call home. It’s a blank slate. You won’t see where you took prom pics, or had your first date, or where you had team bonfires. You will just see unfamiliarity, and you will wonder how long it will take before you can feel like you belong again.

When you come home after school and your parents ask how your day went, answer in more than one syllable. You will never again have someone constantly there to fuss over you, no matter how much you wanted your stubborn independence. They love you, and you won’t get to see their faces on the daily much longer. Put your cell phone down and just talk to them. They matter so much. Please value each remaining second you have with them before they are just a voice from a phone call and a visit on the occasional holiday.

See your friends as much as possible. Memorize all of their adorable quirks, listen to their story for the twentieth time about that cute boy, and remember how their house always seemed like a second safe place for you. Don’t spend your time texting them; drive to their houses completely uninvited (because why would you need to be?), go on spontaneous adventures, or get T-Swift style revenge on their lying ex. These treasured times are running out; each sleepover with them is one closer to the last. One day you will pack up your car, cry as you watch them fade away from sight, and think, “Never again.” Never again will you have these spectacular people who love you so much be such a large part of your life every day.

I want you to take every second of your high school career and make the most of it. Go to as many football games as you can. Dress up for Spirit Week, even if you think you’ll look dumb. Remember the hallways, the terrible cafeteria food, even the sound of the bell. These are some of the best days of your life, and they are fleeting. You will wake up one day on a twin-size bed, with cinder block walls, and no “Good morning” from your mom and dad. All I’m asking is that you make the most of this precious time with the most amazing people you have come to know and love for eighteen years. Nothing will ever be the same for you again, and that isn’t to say you can’t build new memories with new friends. I just want you to understand that everything changes when you empty your room into little cardboard boxes. You may be ready to start the next chapter of your life, but I really wish you would stay a little girl for just a while longer; you have the rest of your life to fake being an adult.