I never thought a walk down a hallway could be so devastating. Usually, it’s not a one-time thing. You walk down a hallway to get from point A to point B, and in most all cases, you have to get from point B back to point A. Not this time.

I set sail on a seven-day cruise last week, not expecting to spend every moment in the teen lounge, to wake up every morning at 8:30 a.m. just to have breakfast with friends, or to stay out until 1 a.m. dancing the night away with all the incredible people I was surrounded by, just to do it all over again the next day. I made friends from all over, each with a personality that brought so much life to our unique little group. When I realized that I was going to have to say goodbye, that these people I had grown so fond of were going to go back to their own walks of life, and that I wouldn’t get to see their smiling faces every day, my heart sank just as fast as the boat’s anchor. It felt like camp all over again: meeting people who you know you will be friends with for life, but also having to say goodbye a short week later until a next time you don’t even know exists yet.

I had just hugged two of my friends goodbye after breakfast, and as I walked down the hallway back to my room on Sunday morning at 6:45 a.m., I watched each and every moment I had spent with them flash before my eyes. Wasn’t I just playing Apples To Apples with them on the first night? Didn't a joke about an ice-cream cone just make me laugh so hard that I couldn't breathe?

“Live today. Not yesterday. Not tomorrow. Just today. Inhabit your moments. Don’t rent them out to tomorrow. Do you know what you’re doing when you spend a moment wondering how things are going to turn out?

You’re cheating yourself out of today. Today is calling to you, trying to get your attention, but you’re stuck on tomorrow, and today trickles away like water down a drain. You wake up the next morning and that today you wasted is gone forever. It’s now yesterday. Some of those moments may have had wonderful things in store for you, but now you’ll never know.”
-Jerry Spinelli

I read this quote right before I got off the boat, but right after I had waved my friends goodbye. I realized just how quickly life goes by, and that you have to cherish, rather than take for granted, each and every moment because you will never have one quite like it again.

Life is made up of moments: billions of little ones, a few big ones, and thousands in between. Each one is special and important in shaping who you become and what you love most in life. Whether it's a moment to smile about or one that makes you break down in tears, it's there for a reason.

What I learned from walking away from one of the best weeks of my life is that you can't pick and choose what will stand out, what will be important today versus tomorrow, or what will make the most beautiful music in your life. But you can choose to appreciate and live for the moment you are in, not for the one that comes next.

How often do you thank your friend for spoiling the TV series you're watching? How often do you read the last page of the book before the first? I'm sure hardly ever, if at all. So, why would you spend the amazing moment you are in looking for the next one to come?

Leaving my friends was hard, knowing that I can't exactly walk from Georgia to Kansas. I wish I hadn't had to say goodbye or walk back down the hall to point B. But, there is good in goodbye, as long as you can confidently say that every moment you lived beforehand was lived to the fullest.

Thanks to my cruise, I'll never let another moment go by without appreciating it, right then and there, for everything that it's worth.