Graduation, Friends Forever - Guest Blogger

Emmy's Note: I am so excited about how many people have gotten into this month's theme! Heck, it saves me from having to think of blog post ideas. ;) The final post about friendship is from a girl named Jessie who is in her senior year of high school. Remember those days when you weren't sure what was going to happen next? It's a crazy, scary, and exciting time! Also- Jessie is a theatre girl and a complete nerd. How awesome is that? Jessie was born and raised in Kansas and blogs at Living a Life of Truth about a variety of things in her life including the reality of finally "growing up". She has just recently begun writing on a new project she's excited yet nervous to accomplish within the next year. Besides living on the interwebs, Jessie loves to be outdoors with her family doing activities such as hunting and fishing if she's not soaking in as much information she can get from the History channel. Keep in touch by following her on Twitter, @nerdfighter2012.

Also- don't forget that next week is April (crazy!), which means that we'll have a new theme of the month, and I'll be looking for a new sponsor swap partner. Check out the contribute and sponsor swap pages for more details. 

I live in a small town and go to a decent sized school in retrospect to the massive schools in Wichita and surrounding areas. Most of the kids that I walk the halls with every day during the week and often yell at because they can't walk fast enough, or that they're showing too much public display of affection or that they aren't wearing enough clothes (a growing problem at our school), I've known for the majority of my life and have gone to school with them since day one thirteen years ago.



The thing I like about living in a small town is you get to know pretty much everyone you go to school with. You know who you can't sit by in class or you'll spark an argument that will disrupt the entire class, or the person you can't sit by because you talk to them too much instead of doing your work. It's one of those things that have been established several years ago and you just know it. This year I've found some friends in unlikely places, and I can call most of them my best friends.

I'm a theatre kid. At our school we have a horrible problem with the cliques. The athletes stick together, the band kids stick together and then there's the theatre kids who always try to be welcoming to everyone. One of the great things I like about being apart of the theatre family is that not only are we welcoming to everyone at school but we've formed these amazing bonds with each other. I honestly don't know where I'd be if I didn't have my friends...all of whom have been originated to theatre.

This year I've made so many new bonds with people I've known for years that I never really thought about becoming so close with. Just the other night my friend Kate tweeted that she had nothing to do to kick off spring break. I too had also tweeted something along the same lines. We ended up having #nerdtime with our original plan to have a Doctor Who marathon together (something that didn't happen) but ended up going to Wal*Mart and goofing around and ending the night just driving around town talking about random things. Last year when I met Kate, a freshmen at the time, I was happy that she had decided to join in on our crazy life that revolved around fast food, dancing, and just being loony people in general, I wouldn't have thought that the shy timid person she was last year was going to end up being one of my closet friends this year.

And then it got me thinking. I'm graduating high school on May 19th, 2012. Two months from the day I am currently writing this. I have two months with these people that I know I'll have for sure. Two months that I can yell down the hallway packed with students and yell some off the wall phrase at and they'll bust up laughing, someone who I can go to the park with at 10:00 at night after rehearsals on a school night and do dangerous stunts with on the merry-go-round (I'm surprised we haven't had the cops called on us yet...) when we still have to eat and do homework. Two months. Sure there's the summer before I leave to go to college thirty minutes down the road, but what happens next year?

This is one of those many cases that I literally have to tell myself: "Jessie, you're growing up". I've been worrying about what will happen to these friendships when I leave for college in August, and even though I'll be going there with my best friend I'm still leaving behind a lot of people who have been apart of my life and have made such an impact on it. That's when my favorite piece of advice from my mom comes in, she told me once: "Don't worry about what's going to happen, it hasn't happened yet."

I realize today what I have to do is not worry about what will happen when I move away, but to cherish the moments I have now with my friends and see what God has in store for us when the time comes when I have to say "see ya later". After all, August is still a ways away.

Emmy's second note: I just couldn't resist! Let's play that classic Graduation song, shall we?