The end of high school

My last day of school was Friday the 3rd. We got to visit our old elementary schools for one last hurrah. My counselor had arranged for our entire class of 30 to go with me on an accessible bus. This was so relieving because it allowed me to feel like a normal kid. When we arrived at the school we went for a walk around the halls and examined just how small everything was. The kids cheered us on as we went by. 

Before leaving we went to the playground where I was determined to climb the spider web and go on the swings. I did, but my body felt so fragile doing both of these tasks, my legs felt sore and I acquired a nice bloody cut on my knee. I still don’t know why I felt The need to do these things when my classmates didn’t. I guess I just wanted to be my young adventurous self just for a little bit. 

When we got back to East we had a senior picnic, followed by the “dog run” an event where all of the seniors run around our own school one last time. When we were getting directions on where to go my friend decided it would be best to get a head start in order to lead the charge on all three floors, we took the elevator up and the doors opened just as the friendly mob of seniors came running around the corner. Finally, we took the elevator down to the first floor and sang the east school song. 

I am currently sitting at the east practice rehearsal for graduation. Everything feels normal even though there are a ton of people in the crowd that I didn’t even think still went to east. I can very clearly describe what it feels like to be sitting here. It feels like I did everything that was asked of me and made a ton of connections with people along the way. I can’t put my finger on a super memorable thing I learned, but I do have so many wonderful memories with the classmates I met. 

Yesterday was graduation, as I was sitting there listening to my classmates give speeches for a moment I felt like “wow this is really happening, seems like a really important moment” then that feeling was gone and things returned to feeling regular. One of my best friends wore flip-flops across the stage, it was fantastic. The perfect protest. I felt like it was kind of telling everyone to not take any of this too seriously. I felt the same way. When people ask me how I feel, I pretty much think “not any different”.