As college students, high school has become a thing of the past; those four years have been pushed to the far back corner of our memories.
In fact, for most of us, high school is that blur in time that occurred somewhere in between freshmen first-day jitters and the highly anticipated senior graduation.
Like most of my peers, I have become preoccupied by a list of worries ranging anywhere from loans to part-time jobs at the local mall to searching for the perfect summer internship.
Time has led me to realize, that at some point, during my three years as a college student, though I can’t quite pinpoint exactly when, my care-free days vanished.
But as I slowly approach my senior year of college and inch one step closer to coming face-to-face with the “the real world,” I find myself wondering where all the time has gone.
Then, suddenly, like something straight out of an after-school special, my mind gets all fuzzy and starts to drift back to what, in hind-sight, seems like a much simpler time, high school.
Whether you thrived off of the never-ending popularity contests and the incessantly churning gossip-mills or wilted in this fickle, almost cut-throat, environment, high school was a necessary part of our growing experience.
In fact, I believe that those four years, the good, the bad and the ugly, embody a care-free spirit that most of us have since lost.
I can vividly remember the voice of my balding high school guidance counselor encouraging me to enjoy each moment of the high school experience because,”there would never be another time like it.” Little did it know, he was right.
I could not wait to graduate from high school. The moment after my junior prom, I decided that I had outgrown the entire experience.
High school had become so repetitive; the same faces crowded the narrow hallways, girls were always spreading one rumor or another, and the guys were usually the cause of the constant animosity between the girls.
By that time, I was convinced there was nothing left to look forward to but my graduation, which was an entire year away.
I came to college to get an education all while gaining my personal independence; in the process, I was forced to welcome the responsibilities that came with that freedom.
Nearly three years later, as I sit and reflect on those old high school memories, I wish that I would have listened just a little more to that guidance counselor.
While college offers a new and unique experience all its own; high school symbolizes the years of pure care-free adolescence.
Like most things in life, high school can only truly be appreciated once it is gone forever.
Sadly, I have come to terms with the truth; my care-free days are over and will never return.
