Dear soon-to-be graduating seniors,

I was in your exact position this time last year. I was so excited to graduate highschool, leave my hometown and move on to bigger and better things...aka college. I was so eager to move out, create a life of my own and be independent. I was counting down the days and even the minutes until move-in day. I couldn't wait to see what college had in store for me and my future. I was so excited, I didn't even stop to really enjoy the time I had at home and all the memories and good times that came with it. Sitting here a year later, I wish I would have sat back and really enjoyed my last few months at home. Don't get me wrong, college is such an amazing experience and will no doubt be the time of your life, but it's crazy how much has changed in the past year.

As you're approaching graduation and a new chapter of your life, it's hard not to be excited about the future but my advice to you is to enjoy and appreciate the little things. Enjoy the home cooked meals and the weekends at home. Enjoy a movie night with your parents instead of going to that party. Enjoy your pets and they're unconditional love because you will miss that the most. Enjoy the genuine laughs and tears. Enjoy the spontaneous adventures and the nights in. Enjoy the endless nights without homework.

Enjoy the true friends that raise you up beyond yourself. Enjoy the summer before your life changes forever. As dramatic as it may sound, your life will change when you go to college, I promise. Your friends will change (even though they promised they wouldn't), relationships will change and believe it or not even you will change. Change is inevitable. Change is what you make of it, as long as you don't let it break you, it will better you as a person. Some of these changes may be amazing and others not so much. But remember, change is okay.

Friends will come and go as the years go on but I can promise you that your true friends will stay by your side and those that do are keepers forever. So please don't rush these next couple months of high school and enjoy the little things in life, your parents, your bed, your friends and the simplicity. Take time to tell the ones you love how much you appreciate them. Sit back, take it all in and enjoy.

Sincerely, a nostalgic college student