Dear High School Graduate to be,

I know your days left in high school are numbered, so I wanted to share some advice based off of what I remember about my last couple of weeks.

They’re a blast, filled with many lasts and even many firsts. They can get pretty busy though, so don’t forget to stop for a second and appreciate it all.

Remember that these last couple of weeks might be the last time that all of your favorite people are going to be in the same place at the same time. Your family who loves you unrelentingly, your current best friend that seems to be able to read your thoughts, the friends you grew up down the street from who share 1,000 sweet, summer memories with you, the teachers that voted you “Best Smile”, and the coaches that recognized you as MVP.

Remember that although your school probably has its flaws, the football field is something out of a movie, and the gym has echoed every cheer that someone has yelled for you. Take your time leaving the school parking lot even if you have something to do after school, because there are only a couple more days worth of seeing those familiar cars and faces that honk and smile back at you.

Also, its okay not to hurry back from off-campus lunch these next couple of weeks. Take your time at the stoplight with the windows down, the music blasting, and your best friends in the back seat. Teachers will start to accept that the things they’re teaching you in these last few weeks aren’t half as valuable as those last few perfect moments you spend at that same old stoplight with those same old friends. It turns out that when you go someplace new after high school its hard sometimes, and those moments of perfect simplicity will become the memories that will get you through a rainy day.

Remind yourself to stop and talk to your freshman year teacher when they spot you in the hallway. They'll probably be smiling because they believe in you, and they know that when you leave you’re going to impact every new person you come into contact with in a really positive way. And they’ll be proud, because they know they watched you grow into this independent person who is going to spend these next four years eagerly learning everything they can about the world.

Think of the fact that this is where you were when you discovered what you were passionate about and what you were good at. So someday, if ever you forget all the wonderful things that you are, you’ll be able to go back to that place with those people who have watched you grow, and you’ll remember.

Try to remember too that there are only a certain amount of people in this world who will really truly cheer you on; and if your like me, many of those people are going to be the ones you usually don’t think twice about seeing everyday. They’re the ones whose absence you’ll notice when you go off to college because suddenly the people who you call your new friends don’t know exactly how to make you laugh like the old ones did.

So, you soon-to-be graduate, don’t get so excited for what is to come that you don’t realize where you are; because as it turns out, where you are is significant in all of its ordinariness.

I guess the reason I’m writing this is because sometimes you don’t recognize the sweetest moments in life until they’re over. And I assure you, that in light of all of the wonderful, glorious, God-given moments that are yet to come, these last few weeks of high school aren’t moments that will be forgotten.

So here is to you, everything you accomplished in the last four years, and everything you’ll accomplish in the ones to come.

Happy graduation.