Looking Ahead

Last week during spring break, I went home. I remember thinking that I couldn’t wait to see all my old friends. I planned to go visit my old high school and walk around talking to the people I left behind. I was excited as I thought about all the fun times I had. Still reminiscing, I left a few comments on my friends’ Facebook walls, seeing if they would like to hang out. To my surprise, I found that most of my friends were busy.

I have noticed that graduating is the biggest wedge between friends. There is a gap between those in high school and college students. I ended up going back to my high school last week. A little background explanation is probably needed here. I graduated from a class of twenty. I have been going to the same school since kindergarten. I have had the same friends since kindergarten. Everybody knows everybody at my school. Since coming to college, I have missed that closeness, although I found it stifling while I was there.

However, when I went back, I saw faces I did not recognize, faces I could not name. There were new students, people had left, teachers had left, and some had been hired. My high school seemed different. It was not the same.

This is when I realized how much changes as we go through life. I looked back on all the students with a sort of sadness. They would never know about the crazy times that my friends and I had had in that school. But after I thought about it, I decided that it was probably a good thing.

All those new kids might not know what my friends and I did, but they have a chance to have their own experiences. We all have to live our own lives. Those who went to ISU four years ago probably look back on us and wonder if we know about the things they went through. I have found that I need to live my life to the fullest, now. Ann Landers once said, “Nobody gets to live life backward. Look ahead, that is where your future lies.”

I plan on looking ahead.