Goodbye...
I think one of the hardest things for me to accept is that at one point, we must say goodbye, no matter how much it hurts or no matter how earnestly you beg. Junior year for me has come to a close and the seniors have graduated to move on to bigger and better things in store for them as they go their separate ways and say goodbye to the trademark orange lockers and their beloved underclassmen. These past few weeks I've begun to reconcile myself with the reality that the seniors dear to my heart are leaving to continue their journey of finding who they are in the context of this world, and although it's hard for me to admit, it's absolutely necessary for me to let go and to say goodbye - not forever though. Why should I let go of them? My friends, my family, a part of my life... Because I need to let them find themselves and find success in the world around them. By helping them leave this nest we have called high school, I have become a stepping stone for them to find greater things in college and in the rest of their lives. Being a stepping stone is nothing bad: we've all been one for somebody in our lives whether that be a complete stranger who found solace in what we've said in passing, our friends who have leaned on us in times of need, family who have confided in us when events went awry, and specifically graduated seniors who have spent a minimum of 4 years learning and growing with our help along the way.
Goodbye is hard. It sounds so final and absolute - as if this were the end. But that's far from the truth. Goodbye is the key that unlocks the door to the next part of our lives, full of mystery and potential. Goodbye may sound cold, harsh and final, but in reality it's a word that holds so much meaning - it means "I'll see you soon," "I'll never forget you," and "If you don't call me, I'm hunting you down." It means that a chapter in our lives has closed and a new one exists just behind this page, ready for us to continue where we left off.