When Its Over, Its REALLY Over
I saw a very poignant sight today, a kid obviously on the brink of graduation taking a picture of the sign in front of the school with its name on it. The kids clearly knew it would likely be the final opportunity to take in whatever he can because when its over, its really over.
The graduation experience is perhaps the most surreal day of your life
I can recall my final day of high school. I rode in with my friend Scott on his motorcycle and you can see the seats all set up waiting for you and the same people you've been going to school with for years, to fill them. The many thousands of days of going to school were going to come down to one day.
You walk thru the place for the last time under the realization you may likely never see most of these people again, for the good and the bad. You're basically sick of the teachers and they of you.
You are excited for the future and about leaving and the prospects of life ahead. But in one day they are taking away your comfort zone all at the same time. This is all you've ever known to this point!
The one thing that sticks out in my mind is the day I was cleaning out my locker as was the person next to me named Tom. By virtue of our last names being alphabetically arranged, we locked next to each other since grade 7.
Tom and I otherwise wouldn't cross paths, we had no common friends, we were on opposite ends of town. Tom was a quiet kid, he never said too much to me in the 6 yrs we knew each other. Our conversations were relatively benign and meaningless every day.
On that last day, he looked at me sadly and you could tell the whole graduation process was having an unusual affect on him. He said to me, "Dave, this is the last time we'll ever do this." I acknowledged that. He said, "You know, I wish we had become better friends."
We shook hands and then we were sitting next to each other at graduation. I never saw him again after that night. I tell kids who are in their senior year, enjoy it all, take it all in and do everything because when its over there is no chance to go back and change your mind.
The graduation experience is perhaps the most surreal day of your life
I can recall my final day of high school. I rode in with my friend Scott on his motorcycle and you can see the seats all set up waiting for you and the same people you've been going to school with for years, to fill them. The many thousands of days of going to school were going to come down to one day.
You walk thru the place for the last time under the realization you may likely never see most of these people again, for the good and the bad. You're basically sick of the teachers and they of you.
You are excited for the future and about leaving and the prospects of life ahead. But in one day they are taking away your comfort zone all at the same time. This is all you've ever known to this point!
The one thing that sticks out in my mind is the day I was cleaning out my locker as was the person next to me named Tom. By virtue of our last names being alphabetically arranged, we locked next to each other since grade 7.
Tom and I otherwise wouldn't cross paths, we had no common friends, we were on opposite ends of town. Tom was a quiet kid, he never said too much to me in the 6 yrs we knew each other. Our conversations were relatively benign and meaningless every day.
On that last day, he looked at me sadly and you could tell the whole graduation process was having an unusual affect on him. He said to me, "Dave, this is the last time we'll ever do this." I acknowledged that. He said, "You know, I wish we had become better friends."
We shook hands and then we were sitting next to each other at graduation. I never saw him again after that night. I tell kids who are in their senior year, enjoy it all, take it all in and do everything because when its over there is no chance to go back and change your mind.
posted by CuzzinDave at 12:14 AM
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