Growing up in a small town usually means that you end up going to a small school which was just the case for me. That also means that you have the same friends from the time you start Kindergarten until the day you graduate. The only exceptions are if someone leaves or transfers in. Regardless of who comes and goes, you end up knowing everyone, and I mean everyone. You know your entire class and the three above you and below you and since most of your friends have siblings, you may know all of the kids in 6th grade too while you’re a senior.
With your classmates though, you don’t just know who they are. You know them as individuals. You know exactly what makes them who they are. You know what sports they play, where they live, who they’ve dated, who they had as teachers in elementary school, and where they sit every day in all the classes that you have together. The list is endless. This also might sound strange to anyone who didn’t have the opportunity to go to a small town school, but essentially, it’s no different than knowing everything about your few best friends. That’s what we were. My class was basically one large group of best friends.
Sure, some of us may have grown up not liking each other for whatever petty reasons there were at the time, but the closer that graduation got for us, none of that mattered anymore. We all acknowledged the reality that one day we wouldn’t be gathered at the same table for lunch anymore and we wouldn’t be sitting in a math class together. The little cliques began to disappear and any walls that had been built between people wore torn down.
The last few months of high school undoubtedly become the most important of the four years very quickly, and really, by then it’s too late. Yes, at some point every high schooler has said the famous phrase. “I’m so ready to graduate,” but you’re not as ready as you think. Hardly anyone is.
To my high school classmates:
I miss you, that’s’ for sure. It’s been almost a full two years since graduation and I’ve missed you since. I rarely see anyone anymore. Thank God for Facebook, otherwise I wouldn’t know how to keep up with many of you and your busy lives. I get to see how successful everyone is becoming and who all is starting families or crazy hobbies. I grew closer to some of y’all in the last few months of our senior year than I ever could have imagined myself doing, but that’s the crazy part.
Most of you were the main reason that I enjoyed getting up every morning and making my way to school. I looked forward to seeing all of you in the hallway and sitting next to you in class. Y’all were my entertainment (and sometimes a nuisance), my teammates, my cheerleaders, my study group, and my support system. While I learned plenty from our teachers throughout the years, I learned just as much, if not more, from all of you as well. So you were teachers too. You were some of my first friends and some of my only friends until college and while some of you were my best friends, now we don’t talk at all. I’m thankful for the few of you who were my greatest friends and we manage to get together every now and then, even if we don’t see each other for months.
While I haven’t seen any of you since the day we graduated, I still think of you all on a regular basis. There’s not a day that goes by where I’m not reminded of one of you by the most random things. I just hope that all is well with everyone and that we all manage to show up when it’s time for our first class reunion. Until then, I’ll just keep missing you and hoping that we bump into each other somewhere soon.
To those who haven’t graduated yet:
You may think that you and your best friends are still going to hang out all the time and nothing will change after you graduate. I thought that too. It’s not that easy. Life changes. Some will go to college, so will have joined the military, some will have full time jobs that consume all of their time, and some will leave just for the sake of leaving. The worst part, however, is the fact that some people just won’t make an effort to hang out even though they said they will.
High school does not make up the best years of your life. You will not miss all that there was to do in high school either, but what you will miss are the people. Take the time you have left in school to enjoy the company of those around you. Make as many memories as you can before it’s too late. You’ll be glad that you did in the long run.
Sincerely,
A Nostalgic College Student
