High School… where a lot of us made the best (and not so best) memories. These memories are the ones that we look back on for the rest of our lives. Of course, we will have other memories that happen later in life, but nothing compares to what happened in our “golden years.” When I was a freshman I thought it was awesome to have friends who were older than me. The people who had experience and knew what this whole high school thing was about. I found myself going out to parties and doing things a freshman in high school shouldn’t be exposed to yet. I didn’t care that I was missing out on the memories that my friends in my grade were making without me. I just wanted to be “cool.”
What I have found looking back at my high school experience is that I tried to grow up too fast. I tried to fit in with the kids that were two or three years older than me when I should have been spending most of my time making my own experiences and finding my own way through my four years. I molded myself to the person I thought I had to be to fit in, instead of the person I wanted to be. As I approached eleventh and twelfth grade my friends started to graduate and I was left behind. The things that they did at college were things that I couldn’t do because I was still in high school. That’s when I realized I had to change who I spent my time with.
Even though I did spend most of my time in high school with my older friends I still had the friends in my grade that I grew up with. I knew I hadn’t been around them as much and I definitely didn’t share the same experience that they did, but they understood. They still wanted to spend time with me no matter what. That’s when reality hit me. These people that I took for granted almost all of high school were leaving soon. We would all be going off on our different ways and I wouldn’t see them everyday. We were all growing up. The things that they were starting to do senior year (party, stay out late) were the things that I had started experiencing my freshman year and quite frankly, I was over the party life. I wanted to go to the park and swing, play tag, go to bonfires and just be with my friends and do the things we used to back in the day.
The chances I missed with my friends in my graduating class will be on my mind for a long time. Making up for the lost time has really been something I have been trying to do since my senior year. I love my friends that I have made throughout my high school experience (my age and older), but I shouldn’t have tried to grow up so fast. I missed out on too many experiences with some of my best friends. You never think you’ll miss high school and that you can’t wait to be out of there, but college is a whole new world (you now have real life responsibilities). In college your friends will want to go out. You’ll have time to drink, grow up and do adult things, trust me. While you can stay in high school, do it. I’m not saying that making older friends is a horrible thing, but remember the ones who were there with you from the start and that will be walking with you in your cap and gown. Those are the people you want the majority of your high school experience with.
