To my graduating sister who I love so much,
I am so proud of you.
Not everyone can say that high school was the greatest time of their life. It's a different experience for everyone. It's a lot of learning about yourself and becoming who you are. It is undoubtedly a wonderful, but equally difficult time in life.
No, high school was not the easiest four years of your life. You battled many obstacles and you overcame so many fears. But you persevered and I am so proud of you.
And that's completely okay. You are finishing another chapter of your life and moving on. You are graduating high school and you are off to accomplish great things. You can finally do what you want to do. You can go follow your dreams and be your own person.
You graduate in less than a week. This time of your life is filled with many celebrations, congratulations, goodbyes, and "last times." You have so many opportunities to appreciate all that you have and all that you have been given in life up until now.
I want to remind you of a few things before you start this next chapter of your life.
Have the time of your life because you deserve it. You just finished high school. It's tough and annoying at times. It's stressful. Reward yourself this summer.
Be proud and be confident. This time of year is all about YOU.
Realize how far you've come, but also how far you have to go.
Appreciate your friends, our family, and our town. If you haven't sat down and thought about all that we have, you should.
Realize how fortunate you are.
Explore our town this summer and visit some place you've never been before. It's pretty beautiful and you'll miss it one day.
Do something completely new, spontaneous, and possibly weird with your day and night. It'll be a funny memory in the future.
Hang out with as many people as you can. You will lose friends, but you will also keep the ones who truly matter.
Appreciate the little time you have left to spend with your class. There may be a lot of you and you may not know all of them, but you all have something in common.
Do something or see someone that reminds of you of a happy memory.
Take a night with some of your friends to tell funny stories about each other from high school (and maybe middle school if you're willing). Laugh hard.
Realize your potential and use it. You are the future! You can do so much good for this world.
This is the end of high school but this is also the beginning of something new and exciting. You can learn so much about yourself, and you can achieve so much in these next few months. Enjoy it.
