Senior year is coming to an end, and you couldn't possibly be more excited. You have received your cap and gown, and it feels like you have just been handed a crown and a robe. The school days seem to go by slower because they are filled with nothing but graduation talk. You constantly have to hear your parents whine about their baby growing up. Everybody starts telling you that your life is just about to begin and that graduation will be an eye opener for you, which usually results in you rolling your eyes. I'm here to tell you that they are correct, and in just a few short months after graduation, your whole world will be completely different.
The day of graduation will be a long and happy day. You will wake up and begin getting ready for the day you have waited for your entire life. You will put on your best clothes, fix yourself up nice and make sure you have everything you need for graduation. As you check off everything you need in your head, there might be some nerves setting in. Knowing you will have to walk across that stage to receive your diploma in front of thousands of people without embarrassing yourself is nerve racking enough. As you mentally prepare yourself for the day ahead, you get the call from the front door saying it's time to go.
Before graduation everyone will be taking pictures with their classmates for possibly the last time. There will be tears shed and everyone will tell stories of events that took place and laugh about the memories. Then, after what seems like an eternity, your class is told to line up to walk in.
Graduation itself will seem to take forever—especially if your last name is toward the end of the alphabet. When it is finally your turn and you walk across the stage and receive your diploma, you can't help but smile from the excitement and laugh at your family screaming your name. Then in no time at all, you are all told to toss your caps, and you are officially graduated from high school. You run up to greet your family with tears of joy and get told over and over how proud everyone is of you. You think to yourself that you have finally done it and begin to wonder what you're going to do now that your high school career is over. I was in this exact position almost a year ago at my high school graduation, so I can easily cure the wondering for you.
The summer after graduation will be the best summer of your life. You will finally be free from all the crazy rules of high school and will be able to do whatever makes you happy. Some people will go on senior trips with their high school friends, some will head off to basic training, some will immediately move out of town for college and the rest will stay close to home and begin their own life as an adult. It will be the greatest feeling in the world becoming an adult and setting your own rules and guidelines, but in no time at all reality will set in and life will completely change for you.
Eventually, you will realize that some people you hung out with in school were purely just that—someone to hang out with at school. Because once you all go your own way after graduation, chances are you won't talk to most of those people anymore, and some of them you won't even see in public. You will begin getting ready for college, find a job and everyone you know will suddenly be getting engaged and starting families. Everything will hit you all at once, and you will realize everyone was right about your world completely changing. Then you realize something. You realize life has changed for the better. Yeah, sure, you lost some friends and you realize there is a huge world waiting for you, but eventually you will love life more than you ever had before.
Graduation means setting your own rules, living a life free from school drama, and going on your own adventures. The people that stay by your side are who your true friends are. If you choose to go to college, you will finally be studying something you enjoy learning about. You will meet new people in college and have great study groups. You will finally get to know what it feels like to become an adult. Chances are, you will occasionally look back on your high school days and miss how easy and laid back everything was, but at the same time, you will be happy it is over and move on with your new life.
Your life is just around the corner, so try your best not to let it hit you like a train.
