High school just a tiny part of our lives

All of my life I have heard seniors say what a sad time graduation is. I always thought that they were insane. Sitting there, with however many years that I had left, I’d fantasize that I was the one getting my senior pictures taken, the one that was struggling to finish on time, the one that was almost done. I couldn’t wait to finish high school, start living my dreams, and to make my mark on the world. It wasn’t that I didn’t love school. I do, always have, but I just wanted it to hurry up and be my turn.
And now that it is my turn, I still can’t wait. But as much as I am looking forward to graduation, I now know why all those seniors said it was such a sad time. Until very recently, I had no clue just how big this whole graduating thing is. My friends and I would talk about it, tell each other how excited we are and how much the time is dragging, but I was so focused on just getting the work that I needed to get done, that I didn’t really stop to think about what happens now.
Once I started to write this, it really hit me. Never again will I be a high school student. There isn’t going to be any more whispered conversations during classes, no more going to the hangout corner during lunch, no more “Ugh, I forgot to do my homework.” It is over! Almost all of my high school memories have been made and filed away. There were parties, tears, dreams, disappointments, achievements, and so much more that happened in the crowded halls of high school.
The thing that I have been waiting for since practically the first time that I walked into first grade has arrived. On Tuesday, I graduated from Spokane Valley High School.
Compared to the rest of our lives and everything that we will come to do and be, high school is a very tiny part. It lasts just four little years, and only three for me. When you look at a whole life, three years are just three blinks of an eye. But yet, so much has happened in those three years. I’ve moved more times than I care to remember. I’ve had friends and family die. I’ve met people, forgotten people, and faced crises, all to get to this spot. My dreams and goals have changed so much during high school. I’ve changed.
When I was 14 and a freshman, I felt so old. Now, looking back, I seemed so very young. I have grown up and matured. And yet, sometimes, I still feel the same exact way that I did then. Bubbly and immature, yet determined to make my dreams come true.
Now, with the rest of my life ahead of me, and 17 long years of it behind me, I am ready to make all of my dreams come true. No one really knows what is going to happen to us graduates in the future. We might meet only disappointments, or we might succeed in what we set out to do. In a year, I will be moving to New York City, where I hope to become a very successful suspense author.
Thanks to my family and friends, I have all the support and confidence I will ever need. They have always believed in me and they will never let me give up. So, with everyone that I care about behind me, I am now ready to say, “Goodbye high school, hello real world.”