By MAGGIE MALONEY
NRHEG Senior

As someone who has continuously been friends with upperclassmen, I have watched good friends graduate from high school and move on to their next chapter, year after year. Because of this, I have partly joked, partly seriously complained, that I have had “senioritis” since sophomore year.

I have felt ready to move on and continue my education for quite some time now, sometimes even wishing away the years of high school that I had left. But a strange thing happened when I began senior year this past fall: I was excited to still be in high school, even slightly nervous that I was actually almost done. As the year progressed, I still held onto my senioritis, but was also secretly happy to be experiencing the senior milestones that I had previously watched my older friends experience. 

Now, I am unsure if I will ever be able to finish my senior year in the way I had always pictured. It was easy to say, “I am ready to be done with high school and just want to go to college,” when I knew that, no matter how often I said it, time would continue on as always. It was a small matter to wish something away that I knew would never actually disappear. Now, as I wonder how the rest of my senior year will unfold, I can’t help but notice the irony of my situation.

I know, partly because plenty of people have told me, that there are bigger moments in life than senior prom. But, all the people who have told me this have never had their senior prom taken away from them. Truly, the senior memory I am most sad about possibly losing, is playing with the concert band at graduation. Band is family, and the last event we will celebrate together is that last song, the one seniors have chosen as a favorite from their entire high school career. It was a moment I had been picturing for years, and now it may not happen.

Life is uncertain right now. I know I am lucky to be healthy and with my family, but class of 2020, I am sorry we are not able to live out the last few months of senior year. However things go, classmates, I am grateful for the memories and experiences we have shared. Let’s hope for the best, and be ready to cope with the worst.