This past Friday marked the 51st graduation from my high school, a private Catholic all-girls school, The Connelly School of the Holy Child. The annual ceremony had me feeling just a little bit more nostalgic than I had anticipated, but I guess that was probably just due to foolish expectations on my part.

If you’ve read any of my stuff before, you will probably know that this is not the first time I have raved about my single-sex education. In my first article, “So, are you a lesbian?" Misconceptions of going to an all-girls school, I mentioned all of the things that an all-girls school is not. This time, I’d like to talk a little bit more about what it is. At least, what mine was.

While sitting in the pew listening to the senior class president give her speech, I couldn’t help but be transported back to my days at Holy Child. The days when my yellow kilt was more than just a racy Halloween costume, it was a way of life. A time filled with excessive mounds of food, inexplicable laughter, inappropriate class discussions, “friendly” rivalry, and an overwhelming feeling that this place was my home, was with no doubt in my mind, the best time of my life. Now don’t get me wrong, college is great and all, but things were just different back then; they were easier, and less dramatic (if you can believe that for an all-girls school). Maybe you’re thinking to yourself, “that girl definitely peaked in high school.” Well, maybe I did, so what?

I learned a lot while at Holy Child; I learned how to write a research paper, how to solve an AP calculus problem (well, actually scratch that, sorry Mr. Quigley), and even how to get away with violating the dress code "#hoodedsweatshirts #dyingofheat." But for the most part, the most important things I learned were beyond the confines of the four walls of a classroom. You see, Holy Child is not just a school, it’s a family, and therefore it instills the same values any parent would teach their children. While at Holy Child, I learned who I was and what was important to me, and the three F's: family, friends, and food.

Holy Child is a place like none other, one of the greatest places I have ever had the opportunity to experience. After attending the school for six years, the line between friends and family became very blurred. And as I wrote in my application to Wake, I learned at Holy Child that "family is not bound to blood relations". As you soon figure out when you get to Holy Child, everyone is happy, and for the most part, no one cares what people think. That is what makes it such a special place. You are able to be yourself without the fear of what the person next to you might think, even if it meant scarfing down that third cupcake, or being involved in the disappearing cake act every time one of Ms. Kopit’s m&m birthday cakes made their way to the senior lounge (which happened almost every other day). At Holy Child, you don't just make friends, you gain sisters; because Holy Child is as much a family as the one each and every one of its students belongs to.

That’s why when I was recently asked whether I would take four years of college and graduate high school a year early, or take four years of high school and give up my last year of college to graduate early, I replied saying that I would cut my college years short in order to have that last year of high school. Every jaw around me dropped; "You would give up one full year of college, partying and making of fool of yourself with no consequences, for one more year of high school?" You bet I would.

Now, I know I'm starting to sound just a little bit obsessed with my high school, and being away for over two years now has only made the separation anxiety worse. And being back there on Friday, surrounded by a sea of familiar faces was almost more than I could handle. The wave of nostalgia that hit me was more like a tsunami, one that had me realizing some things about myself. Realizing that never was I ever happier with myself than when I was at Holy Child. Never was I ever so content in being myself, whoever that may have been. And never did I ever give less f*cks as to what other people thought of me.

I learned these things at Holy Child. I learned how to be a friend. How to make friends your family. And that food is always the number one priority, but I didn’t take advantage of the things I had learned, I forgot them for a while. You don’t really ever realize what you’re missing out on until it’s gone. And even then, after a while, you start to forget what it is you’re even missing.

Until the tsunami hits.