Dear Future Me,

Senior year is about to begin, and everything is about to change. At this moment I don't know where my next journey will take me, but I know it's coming fast. When you read this on graduation day, there are a few things I hope you can confidently say you did with your last year of high school.

I hope you scream at the top of your lungs at football games. Appreciate the simple drives around town with your best friends, and sing along to those same songs you've always loved. Study hard, keep being organized, and kill it on those final exams.

Stop and look at the simple things. The past 18 years you've spent in this tiny beach-side town are years that you can never get back.

Senior year means a year of "last times."

The last time you'll drive that same old drive to school at 7 am.

The last time you'll be able to depend on a home cooked meal every night.

The last time you'll sit up in your room all alone cramming for the test you have in the morning.

So yes, senior year means a year of "lasts" but it's also a year of looking forward to "firsts."

Soon you'll move into your first college dorm with your first roommate.

You'll take your first class and be amazed by a professor.

You'll meet incredible new people and try new things every day.

Believe it or not… you're ready to be independent and confident.

To learn new things and get involved like never before.

To find new passions while continuing to pursue old ones.

Everything is about to change… but everything you've experienced thus far has been preparing you for this.

It's time.