As I walk around on campus I can’t help but notice the various tours that are being given to new potential students. I remember being in that same position and wishing time would move faster so I could be free to experience college all on my own. However, these are the words I wish someone shared with me before I set off on my new adventure.

To the girl walking by me,

I was in your same position, not too long ago, soaking up the campus; sensing the freedom that was right within my reach. I’m sure you have many ideas of how these next four years will go, meeting new girlfriends, late nights, and making memories that you will always hold close to your heart. The new girlfriends that you make will be your best friends, you’ll spend your days together, and create a bond you didn’t know what possible. I was more than ready to leave high school, I wished the days away so I could have a fresh start; new surroundings.

However, here is what you should know, don’t wish these days away. Embrace what you have left of high school because you won’t get those simple times back. Take advantage of the fact that you can eat lunch with your friends everyday and really take in their presence because, it will truly be missed next year. If you think about it, wave to those you see in the hallway, some of these people you most likely will never see again.

Drive around your familiar streets with your friends and get lost in the night; feel the last of the summer haze blowing through your hair. Embrace the weekends you get to easily spend together because planning around each other’s breaks next year will be difficult.

Make sure to hug your parents as often as possible because, even if you’re at your wits end with them at the moment, you will miss them when you’re gone. Make sure to give some love to your pets too, that unconditional love will be missed while you’re away.

Go see your grandparents as often as you can because they are only getting older and your time is limited with them. It’s the little familiar things that we take advantage of that will create an absent feeling in your life next year.

As you pack up the last of your life into boxes, you’ll feel the emptiness that now settles within your room. You now have a second place to call home and that room that you have grown up in will only be temporary. Soon you will be sharing a room with another person and it can be quite the transition. However, behind those four walls, many laughs will be shared, tears will be shed, and the bond that is created between you two, as you experience these new things together will be, irreplaceable.

When it comes the eve of leaving for school and you lay your head down for the last time in your own room take a moment to soak everything in that you have learned from your years at home. Your chapter has ended here and now it’s time for you to create a new beginning at school. You’re about to start the best four years of your life but home will always be where your heart is.

From,

A fellow upperclassmen