High school graduation has to be one of the strangest events, if you think about it. I mean the evening itself is fairly normal if taken at face value- you enter, you sit and listen to the two crazy people who made out with a 4.0 GPA, you walk up to the stage, get your fake diploma, leave without incident, then go to the after party.
The strange part is realizing that all of a sudden these people you’ve known since elementary school (and out of our 50 or so graduating, I’ve known almost half of them since 1rst and 2nd grade) are nearly adults, and a lot of them have already started what will become the rest of their lives. Hell, my neighbor and classmate that I met the day we dug out the foundation for this house back when I was a wee tot of about 6, got married today. I still remember her pointing at her tongue at the mere mention of a boy.
Another one I’ve known since 4th grade and whom I used to pick on (he’d return the favor by stabbing me with any random sharp object), heads off to Alaska in the morning for 3 solid months of labor, with no real desire to return (and on another note, he’s since become a good friend of mine). This is the same bastard who had no trouble threatening the few children he could find smaller than him for money at lunch, yet off he goes for the sole purpose of actually earning his wages.
And still another, who graduated after his first semester, has already been to Mexico and states I’ll probably never visit as part of his daily job (earning about three times as much as I). This is the kid that tried convincing us in second grade he’d been to Africa, and who I had to drag grumbling through three movie productions.
The list goes on. My point is that it feels odd, looking at a lot of my friends and realizing their “real lives” have already begun, when it seems like just a little bit ago we were all playing football at recess, yelling at each other about rules and wondering why we never got the ball. The truth is that aside from the sad state of public education (or at least our school’s, who’s administration seem more concerned with their egos not getting popped and sports than children actually learning jackshit) that engrosses high school as I leave, it’s a bit sad knowning I won’t get to hang out with many of the people I only had the chance to see at school for much longer, if at all. But not so sad is what else I’ll be missing: The drama, the useless bickering, friends treating other friends like playthings/dirt, and having to look at the same obnoxious idiots, quitters and lazy fucks every day. And while I realize most of these traits will just pick up another face and continue to be present in my life, it’s comforting knowing I have quite a bit of time between now and then for me to feel… Refreshed.
But thankfully, I can look back over it all and say that portion of my schooling was outweighed by the good times I did manage to have with friends and anyone else that was along for the ride and able to have fun. I don’t want to give the impression it was all smooth- because it absolutely wasn’t- but it feels easier to recall good memories of high school than bad ones. Especially lunch. Dammit, I WILL miss my lunch break, because it was by far the best half hour of random comedy I’ve ever been witness to or a part of.
Anyways, for any fellow graduates or generally anyone that sorta cares, I’ve got a dozen or so pictures from the senior party here. Enjoy. And feel free to use that contact button off to the side anytime to get a hold of me for any reason at all.
Good day. I’m off to begin my summer routine of staying up until I can hear birds chirping and see the faint outline of sunlight over the trees.
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