Right now, I am sitting at my computer about a week and half before the last day of school for seniors. My senioritis has reached a new high, and I will do practically anything to get out of studying or doing something school related. Although I am so ready to be finished with high school and move on with my life, one question has been on my mind. What am I supposed to do on my last day of high school, ever?

Am I supposed to just walk out the door and drive away as quickly as possible? Do I take my time and say goodbye to all of my favorite teachers? Do I sob and get all emotional? Do I walk around and reminisce on the experiences, both good and bad, that occured in this building? By the time everyone is reading this, however, it is probably May 29 at the Senior Awards Ceremony, or maybe you are reading this twenty years after the class of 2014 graduated, just looking through old memories. Regardless, the decision has already been made. We have already walked out that door for one of the last times and we are no longer high school students.

A moment I thought about for so long ended abruptly, just like many other exciting things that will come. I never thought the time would come that I would be a senior in high school, but it did; it came quickly. It is something I always knew would happen, but I felt like I had so much more time to prepare. I still see myself as an awkward sixth grader who could not get her locker open, and, therefore, had three tardies in every class (one away from a detention. I was a mess.) Ever since I was little, I wondered what I would be like as a teenager. Would I get good grades? Would I have awesome friends? Would my prom dress be poofy, sparkly and pink? I never thought the day of prom would come or the day I walked across the stage at graduation, but I also never thought that I would have the great opportunities I have had or thought I would become the person I am now.

After graduation, the class of 2014 has so much to look forward to, and so many moments that will go by quickly if we let them. My five year old self would be pretty upset with my choice of prom dress: a navy blue non-puffy dress with minimum sparkle. Actually, I am pretty sure spunky, attention-seeking, loud, pouting five-year-old Grace (I once told my Sunday school teacher it was my birthday when it was not just so I could get a cupcake birthday crown) would not get along with eighteen-year-old Grace, who is pretty much the opposite. Although I am nothing like I once hoped I would be, I am thankful for who I am. If we all kept the same goals as we did as kids, we would be video game loving, Barbie obsessed adults, and who really wants that? Just thinking about what each of us will achieve in the future gets me excited; moments will come that we have dreamed about since our first day of Kindergarten.

So, class of 2014, if you are reading this on May 29, or over the summer, or forty years from now, before I get up from my chair and get a snack, let me tell you this: we all have so many great things to look forward to, and even if life ends up differently from what we expected, we can still make the best of it and enjoy what we have been so graciously given. I cannot wait to see the people we all become, and what we choose to do with our talents, abilities and passions. So, peace out everyone. Go live life.