so, friday (yesterday, technically) was the last day for the senior class of 2008. it kind of threw into perspective that that was me, a year ago. a year ago, i got up early, did the do and the face, put on my white dress and drove to high school with the determined air that it was the last time i would wake up at 6:30 am to get in my car and make the 7-or-so mile sojourn to center grove. it's just like any other day, you park in the lot, trudge up the sidewalk then climb the million and a half steps up to the hall of excellence. you might be late, but who gives a shit?!? it's your last day, you don't have any days left to be late. the first triumph of the day. you go through the day all giddy and excited, taking pictures with people you'll probably see later that night, and say goodbye to teachers, even the ones you hated. suddenly everything about the place seems nostalgic: a lunch table is the source of many a memory; a particular spot in the stairwell where you used to make out with a boyfriend when PDA didn't gross you out, that spot in the hallway where human traffic always backed up, the only bathroom in the school that got cell phone reception, the gym where you were tortured for at least 2 semesters, the giant hanging class pictures by the library, the staircase that no one used by the biology hall, etc, etc, etc. you look up at the clock and realize that you have ten minutes left. ten more minutes in a place that you either loved or hated for four years of your life. ten more minutes of being in the place where you came of age: where you spent band concerts and basketball games, dances and after school activities, french club and student council meetings, after school detentions and friday night football games, where you fell in and out of love, kissed, made up, fought, freaked out, failed classes and passed them, and made friends and memories you'll never forget. no wonder people cry on the last day. it's the culmination of the best and most horrible years of your life. five minutes. you'll never forget the times you had in high school, because one day you'll look back and realize that every bad decision, every mistake, every failed test, missed homework assignment, every break-up, broken heart, broken promise, every let-down you experience in those four years of hell was just a lesson; a hardship; a test you had to pass for the real stuff yet to come.
finally that bell rings. and if you were like me, you got to the doors of the hall of excellence. you'd been pushing those doors open for 180 days a year for the last four years, but today is different. today, you give them a vindictive push, because it's like you're pushing your old self out of a cocoon. you throw those doors open and throw your hands up to the sky, screaming "I DID IT!!!!!!!!" to god, fellow seniors, whomever is listening. people might stare, but you couldn't give a shit. high school is done forever. by simply walking out a door, you've closed a chapter on your life. nothing in your life has ever, or will ever feel so good. welcome to the first day of the rest of your life, kid.
i hated high school. i couldn't wait for it to be over with. i never felt like i fit in properly at a school that drank enough alcohol to rival IU, favored sports stars and hollister-wearing skanks, and spent the price of an upscale mansion on astroturf. yeah, center grove is preppy. get over it, you know it's true. i didn't drink (you wouldn't either with a former frat-tastic father who can smell a whiff of alcohol from across the room), i was crap at sports, too large for hollister standards, and only went to a handful of football games. sometimes i look back and wonder whether or not i had a fulfilling high school experience. but then i remind myself that high school was what you made of it. i had amazing friends, some life-changing experiences, and i got decent grades. it's about all you can ask for, really. while i didn't exactly fit the "CG" stereotype, i still had a pretty damn good time in high school. now that i've got a year of college (WEIRD) under my belt to compare it to, i'd still have to say that HS wasn't really that bad. of course, college is 100000000x better, but i mean, come on. it's fucking IU.
but what gets me today is the fact that all i wanted in high school was to get the hell out of greenwood and go off to bloomington and re-invent myself and get a new life down there. now that i'm back here for the summer, i don't want to leave. being back here makes me realize how much i love the wood and how there's really no place on earth like it. where else do people hang out at meijer's for fun? or have 6 starbucks in a 10-mile radius? or where else can you go where there is every chain restaurant known to man? the truth is, that's most small towns, but i love mine. cutting through neighborhoods to get almost anywhere, quaint parks (where people go get high), super target, the lifeblood of shopping in center grove, a zillion tanning salons, mrs. curl's, the suds, and so many other places that make greenwood unique. i wouldn't live anywhere else.
so, seniors, here's my advice to you: have the fucking summer of your lives. live it the hell up. go swimming, party too hard, go on roadtrips, spend time with your friends, but most importantly, with your family, get way too tan, take too many pictures, go to concerts, go to the fair, eat taco bell at 2 am, get drunk, and drive around this small-ass midwestern town. cause in 3 short months, you'll be gone. gone for a whole year of crazy fucking shenanigans. and when you get back, you'll realize that this isn't just any small midwestern town, it's the wood. there's no place on earth quite like it, and it's home. even though you spent your whole life wishing you were somewhere else, you'll realize that what you were searching for was right in front of you all along.
finally that bell rings. and if you were like me, you got to the doors of the hall of excellence. you'd been pushing those doors open for 180 days a year for the last four years, but today is different. today, you give them a vindictive push, because it's like you're pushing your old self out of a cocoon. you throw those doors open and throw your hands up to the sky, screaming "I DID IT!!!!!!!!" to god, fellow seniors, whomever is listening. people might stare, but you couldn't give a shit. high school is done forever. by simply walking out a door, you've closed a chapter on your life. nothing in your life has ever, or will ever feel so good. welcome to the first day of the rest of your life, kid.
i hated high school. i couldn't wait for it to be over with. i never felt like i fit in properly at a school that drank enough alcohol to rival IU, favored sports stars and hollister-wearing skanks, and spent the price of an upscale mansion on astroturf. yeah, center grove is preppy. get over it, you know it's true. i didn't drink (you wouldn't either with a former frat-tastic father who can smell a whiff of alcohol from across the room), i was crap at sports, too large for hollister standards, and only went to a handful of football games. sometimes i look back and wonder whether or not i had a fulfilling high school experience. but then i remind myself that high school was what you made of it. i had amazing friends, some life-changing experiences, and i got decent grades. it's about all you can ask for, really. while i didn't exactly fit the "CG" stereotype, i still had a pretty damn good time in high school. now that i've got a year of college (WEIRD) under my belt to compare it to, i'd still have to say that HS wasn't really that bad. of course, college is 100000000x better, but i mean, come on. it's fucking IU.
but what gets me today is the fact that all i wanted in high school was to get the hell out of greenwood and go off to bloomington and re-invent myself and get a new life down there. now that i'm back here for the summer, i don't want to leave. being back here makes me realize how much i love the wood and how there's really no place on earth like it. where else do people hang out at meijer's for fun? or have 6 starbucks in a 10-mile radius? or where else can you go where there is every chain restaurant known to man? the truth is, that's most small towns, but i love mine. cutting through neighborhoods to get almost anywhere, quaint parks (where people go get high), super target, the lifeblood of shopping in center grove, a zillion tanning salons, mrs. curl's, the suds, and so many other places that make greenwood unique. i wouldn't live anywhere else.
so, seniors, here's my advice to you: have the fucking summer of your lives. live it the hell up. go swimming, party too hard, go on roadtrips, spend time with your friends, but most importantly, with your family, get way too tan, take too many pictures, go to concerts, go to the fair, eat taco bell at 2 am, get drunk, and drive around this small-ass midwestern town. cause in 3 short months, you'll be gone. gone for a whole year of crazy fucking shenanigans. and when you get back, you'll realize that this isn't just any small midwestern town, it's the wood. there's no place on earth quite like it, and it's home. even though you spent your whole life wishing you were somewhere else, you'll realize that what you were searching for was right in front of you all along.
No comments:
Post a Comment