They say time flies when you’re having fun. Time can also feel like it is being dragged by a tortoise across the desert, and that’s how I feel about the two months I have left of high school.
Three years ago, I envied my senior football teammates who were flying high during the second semesters of their senior year. They told me that senior year meant going off campus everyday for lunch, excusing your own absences and cruising through classes because college acceptances had already been announced. Now, as a second semester senior, I do enjoy many of these special privileges that my older friends raved about, but I don’t find myself flying as high on cloud nine as I thought I would be.
Maybe it’s my fault. I signed myself up to have zero through seventh. I volunteered to take four AP classes, two electives and play two sports. Sleeping at three and waking up at 6:30 has definitely not helped decrease the number of white hairs on my head, but I thought seniority would allow me to fly through high school. Boy was I wrong.
Maybe second semester senior year isn’t living up to the hype because I’m excited for what the future has in store. College is just around the corner and for a kid who has lived in tiny Temple City for my entire life, a change in scenery has been long overdue. I’m pumped to spread my wings and fly out of this nest that I have called home for nearly 18 years, so I guess it’s no surprise that I can’t wait to pack my bags and go explore the world. Slow and steady might win the race, but I am ready to sprint like the hare and leave the tortoise and high school life in the dust.
Although I am excited for the thrill of flying away from home, I am also afraid of falling. Temple City has been my home for so long and I can’t wait to leave, but it is also all that I’ve ever known. My final two months in high school seem to be passing by slower than a snail, yet when I stop to think about it, I realize that I only have two months left at a school that I have called home for the past four years. All the things that I have grown to love and enjoy, including writing for Rampage, putting on a green and gold football jersey or painting posters for ASB will soon be a memory of the past, making me hesitate before I make a leap and attempt to fly off towards the rest of my life.
As I’m now perched on the side of my nest, ready to make a leap, looking down and seeing how far I am off the ground shows me how much I’ve enjoyed in my life, but looking up, I see the endless possibilities that the world has to offer and I can’t wait to spread my wings and fly.