To High School Seniors

This past Thursday I saw an ad that stuck with me. I don't know what product it was trying to sell -  I only saw it for a couple seconds. But what I did see of the ad went something like, "Make your senior year last forever with this deal that won't." And my automatic thought to that?

Please don't.

If you've managed to progress all the way to the twelfth grade, hopefully you have realized that it would be impossible to make the year last forever. But more important to my thought process is that as much as I enjoyed high school (and I did) I would hate to be back there. Because there is so much more to experience.

So, high school seniors, enjoy your year. Participate in your clubs and go to your dances and all that stuff. Then, after you graduate, move out and move on. Live with roommates. Stay at your friend's place talking until it gets so late that you're too tired to walk back downstairs to your own apartment so you just sleep on her couch, knowing that your roommates won't be too concerned if you show up sometime the next day. Eat cookies for breakfast because that's all you have in your dorm room and there isn't time to stop by the dining hall if you want to get to your scheduled final on time. Or eat cookies and crackers for breakfast in bed just because that's what looks good and bed is comfortable (this course of action is best performed if you intend to be changing your sheets soon, but if you don't... hey, live and learn).

Sure, at first you may miss having Mom do your laundry and cook your meals. But eventually, you just may discover that the freedom that comes from being the one to decide what gets washed when more than makes up for the extra burden of the chore. And that ready-made meals aren't too much to sacrifice in order to be the one who decides what to eat and when to eat it - even more when you make the lasagna and green beans than when you munch on a bag of potato chips and a brownie and call that dinner.

Seriously. It happens. And it feels good.