Ashley may have started a trend...

Ashley's graduation post got me all nostalgic, and so now I'm going to reminisce haha. Don't worry about reading this if you don't want xD

Graduation week was a blur for me too. I just remember rehearsing like crazy in the hot sun--but missing class for it, so that was cool. There were so many different ceremonies, award nights, and preparations, things got a bit stressful. But I wouldn't have traded it for the world.
Silly as it may seem, I was super excited about my class rank getting me in the front row of the bleachers. I would have been waaaaay in the back otherwise, haha. My two good friends were the valedictorian and salutatorian, and they both gave amazing speeches: two amazing girls, I was so proud. One headed off to the University of VA, the other to MIT. I watched as all the people I've spent years and years with walked across the stage to get their diplomas, and only then did it become real. Before that, it was all preparation, and it never really occurred to me that high school was over.
That night, I didn't go out and get smashed. But only because the Project Graduation (in place mainly to keep the grads from getting smashed) had too many free activities and too much free food to pass up. My friends and I were up till 4 am, running back and forth getting food, swimming, taking crazy pictures, dancing, and jumping around on the inflatable twister boards and bungee runs. By the end of the night, we all might as well have been drinking--everyone was so exhausted they all passed out on the bus.
I spent the rest of the summer working and going to graduation parties. Some of them were for really close friends. Others were for random classmates that entailed a short visit. I saw my old best friend again for the first time in probably five or six years. That was a huge wake up call too. Because I've changed from junior high. A lot. She didn't recognize me for a second. Back then, I was a painfully quiet, sweatshirt-wearing, shy smart kid with glasses. High school changed me profoundly. Doing the annual musical, getting involved in clubs....and swimming most of all. It kept me (relatively) in shape, gave me a sense of pride, and put me in a leadership position quite unexpectedly (no one was more surprised than me when I got captain). My glasses were gone and I actually cared about what I was wearing. So I could see why she didn't recognize me. It was weird--and kinda sad--how that part of my life, along with my closeness with her, was gone.

All too soon, the summer was over. And there loomed something pretty terrifying--college. The longest I had been away from home was the two weeks I spent in France on a school trip. My mom claimed I was independent enough not to go home every weekend like she did back then.
I wasn't so sure.
But I was lucky to have my best friend as my roommate and two other close friends at the same school. I don't know what I would have done if I was going to a school where I didn't know anyone. I have way too hard a time meeting new people.
But then, by that spring, not only did I meet some new people at UConn (including a boy who's still always on my mind), I met some pretty amazing people on a random website.

Over a year later, I'm proud to call these girls friends.

Ily guys <3>




Okay, I'm done being sappy. :)