Don’t be sad that its over; be happy because it happened ~ Dr. Seuss

Dear Everyone,

I am moving on to a new chapter in my life…one that is scarier, more complex, more free and completely new. Although as I move on, I never realized all of the things and people I will be saying goodbye to. Some of it will be wonderful to put behind, yet I also hate to think about all the beautiful realities that I will be leaving forever

I am saying goodbye to rules of the family, the curfew and the taking care of my siblings. There will be no one else asking where I am going or what I am doing, who I am with or when I will be back…but it also means there will be no one to care, to talk to when I get back, to ask how my day was. My mom won’t be asking about my friends every day or my love life, and my siblings won’t be there to talk to. They won’t be pestering and teasing me either, but I also won’t have them to tease, play games and shoot hoops with. I am leaving my own room and my own space, going where there will be no more privacy, staying up all night when I feel like it or being able to laugh or cry without anyone else around. I am leaving my home for the past 18 years; moving on to make my own decisions, my own rules and my own life.

I am saying goodbye to the days of high school, where drama and popularity mattered (to some) and you couldn’t choose what you learned. I am saying goodbye to my mom embarrassing me at school and teachers pestering me about homework. Yet I’m also saying goodbye to my best friends of high school; my first seven girls that I met, the long and endless sleepovers and talks, staying up all night going to IHOP at 5 am. I am saying goodbye to the days of not caring, when I could skip class with Cassie or see my siblings around, when I could tease the teachers and do cartwheels in the hallway. I am saying goodbye to one sense of freedom to open the door to another.

Yet as I say goodbye, I am also saying hello. I am saying hello to a fresh start, where no one knows who I am and I can be whoever I want to be, I can change my name if I want to. I am saying hello to a life of freedom, where I can make my own decisions on how late to stay out, when I will eat dinner and who my friends are. I am saying hello to choosing my own classes, learning what I want to learn, whether it is swing dancing or chemistry or weight lifting. I am saying hello the freedom of choice in everything that I do. I am saying hello to a new me, where I will be tested, pushed, confused, free, crazy and joyful all at once.

I hate to say goodbye, but I love even more to say hello.

Love Always,

Maria