Yesterday, I sat in class revising my friend Tyler Finch’s final paper for his college writing portfolio. In his paper he spoke of upcoming graduation for seniors like himself and me. He spoke of the good memories of high school and the skepticism of what lies ahead. As I thought about it, there really is no more fitting topic for the last real paper I will be writing in most likely the rest of my high school career. There is so much to mention about the subject. It’s so special and overwhelming to me that writing about it should only be a way to help me grasp the situation and clear my head about all that lies before me in the final upcoming weeks.

There is so much mystery to graduation. To picture myself graduating is such a foreign thought to me. I don’t know what to expect. It is not that I haven’t seen a graduation ceremony before, quite the contrary, I have seen several, I’ve seen cousins and brothers and friends graduate year after year. I know the proceeding the graduates march in to that o so annoying tune that the band has been instructed to play over and over and over until that very last graduate is seated. Then several speakers are introduce and give there idea of life altering speeches, it can be students principals or important people, but for the most part the same things are said, diplomas are handed out and then more pictures are taken then paparazzi at a night club with Paris Hilton and Brittany Spears both intoxicated and dancing. Yes, I know the ceremony, I know the drill, but I don’t know what happens afterwards. I don’t know my major, I don’t know what I want to be I don’t even know what college I’m going to for crying out loud. There is so much to decide and these last four years have been the ultimate procrastination until now. Now I can feel graduation day looming and I know decisions have to be made. It’s scary and exciting all at the same time.

A part of me doesn’t want to ever make it to that graduation ceremony, a big part of me actually. High school has been so safe; it has been home for so long. I’ve come a long way from the first day of High school when I didn’t want to be here, to now feeling so comfortable at this place. I know the teachers and I know what I can and can’t get away with. I know how easy it can be with just a little effort. To be honest having anything less than a B in any regular class in this school seems tragic to me. These last few years I’ve done so well without doing much work and sadly I love that and the worst part is I know it’s a bad habit that will have to change fast. On top of everything else no matter where I go to college my whole situation will change. At Grandville I know a lot of people, teachers, students, and administrators. I’ve had some athletic success and educational success. Overall I’ve done well and I’ve been a big fish in small pond to be cliché and a part of me is sad to see that change.

At this point in High School I finally realize what people mean when they say is the best time of your lives and it flies by. It’s basically a blur at this point, but I have so many good memories. There is so much to remember playing soccer, going to football games and senior year being a superfan, homecoming, homecoming court, prom and twirp. Basketball seasons and all the time I put into that which I wouldn’t change for the world, hanging out with my friends on weekends and summers, watching my friends play their sports. It’s all been so great, every last second even the times in classes I didn’t mind too much. The friends I made and the friends I’ve kept since grade school have become close I feel so worried about heading off on different paths from my best friends, but that’s just another thing to come I guess.

Graduation has been a goal for me every time I walk into the doors of the high school but as it gets closer and I realize what it signals as a turning point in my life I question if I really want it to come. I know it has to and I really believe in the back of my mind like most big changes that it will all work out in the end and these worries and doubts are just protocol for that very change. But this may very well be the biggest change my life has ever seen; new town, new school, new friends, and practically a whole new life. It’s scary and mysterious, but at the same time exciting. I never wanted this life I’ve grown accustom too to change, but I know it has too. Time will tell how the changes will affect me and I will do everything I can to remember these times and keep in touch with my closest friends. For now I just need to enjoy these last few moments of the greatest time of my life, and these papers are not helping that at all.