When we were in elementary school, we were told a crazy number. A number that seemed crazy and forever away. Our teachers and parents told us that the number wasn’t just some crazy and random number. They told us it was the year that we would graduate and that while it wasn’t forever away, it was still fairly far in the future. We all responded differently. Some of us told our parents that was forever away. Others responded with things like “that’s crazy” (anonymous). But it’s safe to say that most of us thought that the year we graduate would never come. We never really thought about the year much in elementary school because it didn’t matter too much to us. We would rather go out and play hopscotch than sit around thinking about the year 2022. 

Our feelings eventually changed when we got to middle school. We began to think about the year 2022 a lot more. We started to think about the day that we would finally be done but not too much because we were just becoming teenagers and learning about who we were. We started making friends and important bonds with others, and learning how we fit in with people and the things around us. The year 2022 was still just a distant thought. 

Then, we got to high school and life changed even more. We still felt like four years was too long to be important. High school had just begun and we were too busy getting lost to think of how truly close the year 2022 was. We got through our freshman year and began thinking more about it—started thinking about the 2,000 days left until June 2022. We started our countdowns and then our sophomore year and junior year flew by, in what now feels like a matter of minutes.

And then, we were here. Suddenly, like our parents and teachers had said years before, we realized that it wasn’t forever away. The year 2022 was here and we were almost done. And now we have only about a month left and none of us saw it coming this fast.

In a very short time, we will walk across a stage at graduation. I know it’ll be strange, really strange, especially to see the many people we have grown up with for the last time. We all used to think that May and June of 2022 were lightyears away but it’s here, right in front of us, which is both heartbreaking, but also incredible. 

There is an array of things that can be said about how we all feel right now. Although it is scary and sad, it’s also unbelievably happy. So as we head into our last days of high school, that’s what we should think of. Our friendships and bonds. Not the sadness that it’s over but the happiness that we got to make the memories of these past years. We built friendships and bonds that have helped to shape us into who we are, which is something we should celebrate. But it is also important to think about how little time there is left in the school year and to cherish it. Finally, June 2022 is here!