Dear Senior,

It is coming up on February now, second semester of senior year underway. At this point you are simply going through the motions, doing as little work as you can possibly get away with. You might know where you are going already in the fall, and the thought of your new life being so close, make it almost impossible to wait. You are beyond done and ready for June to make its long-awaited arrival, so you can graduate already, and put high school in the past.

I get it. Trust me, I do.

I get that high school is not always the most friendly place, and that some people do not love it the same way that I did. It can be really hard.

However, although many of you are quick to wish it all over as soon as possible, I have some advice: Do not.

Do not spend your last few months just trying to get it over with as quickly as you can. Savor it all, every last second. Before you know it, you will graduate, and you will move out of your parents' house and you will go off to college. It will all happen for you, I promise.

But when those events do come, as exciting as they are, and as new as they are, there will be parts of you that long for nothing more then the familiarity of the way your life used to be. You will sit alone in your dorm room, thinking about all that is in the past for you now.

Believe it or not, you will miss the high school basketball games, and Friday night football games.

You will miss getting all dressed up, going off to dances with all of your best friends.

You will miss going to school with the same people you had for the last 12 years prior, even the ones you never really knew personally, but saw around all of the time.

You will miss your parents, the cooking, your siblings, your room, and all that comes with going off to school next fall.

You will miss all of your you have grown up with and are so comfortable around, and miss seeing them every single day, and living a mere five minutes apart, as you are all spread out now.

You will miss the simplicity of your life and the way it is right now, and realize the fact that it will never be quite like it again.

Now, do not get me wrong, you will go off to college in August or September, too, and you will get to experience every moment you have been waiting for for so long, and it will be thrilling. It is true that there are moments in college that will prove to be the best in your life. My point is that all of these things will happen for you, but you should not spend the mean time wishing away right now. Slow down, look around you, and take it all in while it is still there.

You will get to wear the cap and gown, and walk across that stage, shaking your principals hand, and get that diploma, even if it seems like that time will never come.

High school is hard, it can be unforgiving, and kind of awful sometimes, but while it might not be your favorite part of the book of your life, it is a chapter nonetheless. You do not get to rewrite this chapter, so make sure you fill those pages as well as you can, go to all the games, spend time with your friends, and with your family, while you still have the chance.

From,

A college student