My, We've Only Just Begun

Friday, June 3rd, 2011. 2:30 p.m.

I am officially done with high school.

It is a strange feeling, because I'm not feeling much of anything at all. In actuality, it is a blankness. I'm not rejoicing with backflips, but I'm not sobbing into a pint of Ben & Jerry's, either. It is an odd sensation. How am I supposed to feel?

School has been my rock, a pillar to support me through all of these years. School is a safe haven, filled with caring individuals, teachers and students alike, that have helped me to grow and learn. 12 years of memories have all been wrapped up in one neat second, one tick of a clock. No more structured seven hour days, no more homecomings or proms, no more high school. Now I am without it all, and how do I feel? Blank.

But in a good way. Definitely a good way. More of a "clean slate" type of blankness.

One-fifth of my life has been devoted to these years. This part is ending. There is an entirely new, daunting piece of my life ahead of me. It is very strange to imagine it, to accept it as fact, but it's all true. High school is like the first part of a standardized test, the part you have to seal first with the flourescent orange sticker. No, you may not go back to check your work. You may only move forward.

Within the next few weeks it will hit me like a ton of bricks, but by then I will have already started transitioning into phase two. When I think about it, the future seems exciting and filled with endless possibilities. Chock full of dreams that must be chased and people and places that are waiting to know me. And with all that out there in front of me, my. Things are only just beginning.

My most sincere congratulations to the Class of 2011. The future is yours for the taking.