The Years Have Passed So Far Away But They Still Seem So Close

I know that my last actual post was a journal entry, but today presented an anniversary that I thought should be touched upon. Four years ago, on June 16, 2006, I graduated from high school. That milestone is important, because it means that I've now been out of high school for as long as I was in high school. I've changed a great deal since then, mostly for the better.

The image above was taken about a week earlier, when a bunch of the Seniors got together for a pool party at one girl's house.


June 16, 2006

Today, a Friday (though the day of the week barely seems relevant), I graduated from Privileged High School. Me, a high school graduate. I cannot believe it. It seemed as if it was impossible that it could ever happen.

Now, on this June day, for the first time since I was three years old, I am no longer enrolled in the public school system.

Graduation has always been something we looked upon distantly, something that much older, somehow much more sophisticated and capable individuals, experienced. I remember in 2003, watching through Freshman eyes as that year’s graduated filed down the hall in their blue and white robes. I thought that they must be terrified, and imagined that by the time 2006 came along I would somehow have completely grown up.

Now, I’m a Senior—or I was a Senior until several hours ago. The Class of 2007 is now the star, the head on the top of the totem pole. The Freshmen I came to know, the little runts of the school who comprised the Class of 2009, are PHS’s youngest occupants no more. They are now Sophomores, displaced themselves by the incoming Class of 2010. And time moves on.

It all seems to go so fast. Sitting in the gymnasium in our gowns, receiving last-minute instructions from our teachers, it felt completely surreal, like we were playing dress-up and not really getting ready to vacate the academic seats we’d held since 2002.

We walked outside and processed onto the Front Lawn, where a beautiful ceremony had been put together before the school’s massive Front Portico. The ROTC students stood at attention, forming a military honor guard through which we went to find our seats.

The speakers were nice. Smart Boy was Valedictorian, and Bookish Girl and Greek Girl were Salutorians (they tied). One semi-famous public official, who is apparently a cousin of my friend Literary Girl, was our Guest Speaker. I found his words to be very wise and insightful, especially given the historical context in which he delivered them.

June 17, 2006

Today was my graduation party, the fourth such occasion that I have attended since Senior Year began to wind down. The first was on June 7, 2006, when some friends and I reenacted the Civil War with water-balloons on the Front Lawn for our Senior Prank and then headed over to Random-Girl-Whom-I-Haven't-Talked-to-Since's house to go swimming. The second and third parties were yesterday evening and night, at Greek Girl’s house and at a rec center, respectively. I didn’t get home until 5:30 this morning. I’ll have to write more tomorrow, because my right arm and hand pain me. The celebration was a success though, you should know that. Tomorrow is Pie's third birthday.