Forever Cedar Park High

Today's one of those days where reality really hits ya, right in the face. Facing the fact that all the people you've grown up with that have become some of your best friends, won't be living in the same place as you next year. That the town you've lived in for years and years won't be where you're living next year. It's all so hard for me to grasp because it's times like these where I wish life would just stop for a second so I could catch up, but it doesn't. Like my best friend said, we grow up in such innocence, thinking it will all last forever but then you turn around and you realize the people you finger painted with in kindergarten are all sitting with you in an auditorium in caps and gowns and you wonder where the time has gone. And as you hug people you've known forever but never really got to know too well with such joy as if they were your very best friend, that's when you realize the true beauty of it all. That this place and these people have become home and the joy you have inside is just bursting at the seams because you've finally made it. But then it hits you all too hard that nothing will ever be the same after this day. Then the bittersweet reality that high school is actually over is finally starts to sink in a little bit. You begin to think back on the past four years and see all that has come of them. All the friendships that were lost but the even better ones that took their place. The many laughs and good memories but also the times of suffering and loss and spiritual growth. Looking at it all now, I wouldn't trade the past four years of my life for anything though. God has used these years to grow me and shape me into the person he wants me to be. He has tested me and challenged me in ways I could have never imagined and He has given me the best friends I could have asked for to go through all of it with. High school has been the greatest years of my life thus far and its hard to let that go. It's hard for me to wrap my head around the truth that this isn't just a summer like any other where I return to my high school that's right down the street in a couple short months to see all the familiar faces I have seen for the past 13 years of my life. But the fact is, this isn't like any other summer and I won't be going back to high school in a couple months and I won't be surrounded by so many familiar faces. Everything is different now, yet somehow it doesn't quite feel like that yet. It's hard for me to accept that my time at Cedar Park is done. That I will never again play soccer with my best friends or go to another football game as a high schooler or visit my palees or see my best friends every day in the hallway. It's all over. And while that is incredibly sad to think about, what I've learned through this whole season of "lasts" and way too many goodbyes to count, is that there are far better things ahead than what we leave behind. God has promised all of us a future full of hope and good things. While high school has been so much fun, its time for the class of 2015 to take on life's next big adventure with open hearts and minds.

Transitioning into this new season of life is both exhilarating and frightening at the same time. This is the time we have been waiting for our whole lives. Its what the past 13 years of school has all been for. There is so much to live up to, it seems like just about everyone is watching you to see you do something amazing like change the world or something. This is both empowering and intimidating because you feel as though you have all the power in the world the second you grab that diploma but then you take a moment and you realize all the responsibilities that go along with having it. We are thrown out into the big world and expected to make something out of ourselves. Expected to do something bold out there and to take control of our lives that now fall completely on us. With this new found responsibility and big push to do great things, I find myself so excited for the future. I can't wait for this next year of my life filled with many travels and helping people of all kinds of life. I can't wait to see places I've never seen before and meet people I've never met before but already have a heart for. My heart absolutely cannot wait.

While change can be scary and dreaded, it can also lead to greater things than we thought possible. With that being said I am ready to embrace this huge change with an open mind and an open heart. I am ready to let God do what He wants with my life and let go of the control I once thought I had over my life. I'm ready to be challenged in new ways and learn more about myself and this great big world than I know now. So here's to embracing change and learning to find joy in both the simplicity and chaos of life. God's got some huge things planned and I'm ready for whatever he's got!

So it's time to say goodbye to high school. Goodbye to Friday night football games and playing soccer under the stadium lights. Goodbye to being in the same school as all my friends and spending lunch in an old cafeteria. Goodbye to hours of homework and studying for tests. Its time to say hello to new adventures. Hello to seeking simplicity and finding joy in each and every day.Hello to new places and new faces. Hello to the next chapter in this crazy story written by the one whose had it all planned out since the beginning. Here's to a new beginning but never forgetting the good times that were had and the memories that were made. But always, Forever Cedar Park High.