Recently I graduated from my high school (Woodward High School) and boy did it feel terrifying. I remember walking into that high school freshman year thinking that the end would never come. I never thought my turn would come as fast as it did. And when the wheels began turning, they never slowed. It was almost like they picked up speed and got ridiculously fast then bam, it was all over.
As seniors you walk through the halls of the first day of school talking about how cool it is that your at the top of the food chain and how this is last first day of high school and you're going to make this year the best year ever. But you soon realize that this will be your hardest year.
Times ticking away and you have dozens of papers to complete, scholarships to do and you can't forget about that prefect final essay that your English teacher wants the next morning or the three test you have later this week. Everything is just pilling on you and it's only the first nine weeks!! Everyone told you that this would be the easiest year you've ever had!
Soon it's Christmas break and you realize that you've only got a handful of lasts left. You've had your last high school football season, your last marching competition, your last cheer regionals/state and you've had your second to last semester.
Time starts moving even faster and you've gotten accepted to your dream college! You couldn't be more excited because you know that it's finally happening, you're getting older and you're about to be on your own. Suddenly it's the last spring break and you're going out with your friends to soak up the sun but it's not the same. It's feels weird because you're trying to avoid the topic of college and the different places you'll be going. Of course you don't want to say anything because you know it will just make it worse so you and your friends are just ignoring the feeling in hopes that it will just go away.
In a blink of an eye, you're at graduation practice joking with your friends about how you're going to accept your diploma. Then your roaming the halls in your cap and gown to your favorite teachers. You watch their eyes fill with tears of pride because they always knew you could do it. You're sitting in the principle's office joking about how you're actually not leaving, you've decided to just stay here and make his life a little harder. Then you make your way to the band room and watch as the shelves become empty from seniors taking their things home (after years of being told it would get thrown into lost and found). You wonder over to cheer practice and watch as the team works on their new competition routine and you couldn't be prouder of how the team has grown.
Finally it's here. You hear the band start up and if you're lucky like I was, you look into one of your best friends eyes, tears streaming and you realize it's all ending. The years you've spent building relationships, the hours you've spent over that long term project, the tears and sweat you've put into your sport ... it's all ending in less than a day. You realize that last times become first times because it's not the end just yet, it's just the end of the first book in your series that's still being written.
