> >>A year has past and now we stand on the brink of
> >>returning to a world where we are surrounded by the
> >>paradox of everything, and yet nothing being the same.
> >>In one month we will reluctantly give our hugs and,
> >>fighting the tears, say goodbye to people who
> >>were once just names on a sheet of paper to return to
> >>people that we hugged and fought tears to say goodbye
> >>to before we ever left. We will leave our best friends
> >>to return to our best friends. We will go back to the
> >>places we came from and go back to the same things we
> >>did last summer and every summer before that. We will
> >>come into town on that same familiar road, and even
> >>though it has been months, it will seem like only
> >>yesterday.
As you walk into your old bedroom, every
> >>emotion will pass through you as you reflect on the
> >>way your life has changed and the person you have
> >>become. You suddenly realize that the things that were
> >>most important to you a year ago don't seem to matter so
> >>much anymore, and the things you hold highest now, no
> >>one at home will completely understand.
The memories and the stories from school won't mean anything to
> >>anyone at home and yet you resent them for that, that
> >>they can't share that happiness with you. Who will you
> >>call first? What will you do your first weekend home
> >>with your friends? How long before you actually start
> >>missing people barging in without calling or knocking?
> >>Who will get pizza at three in the morning with you
> >>now? How long until you adjust to sleeping alone in a
> >>room again?
Then you start to realize how much things
> >>have changed, and you realize the hardest part of
> >>university/college is balancing the two completely
> >>different worlds you now live in, trying desperately
> >>to hold on to everything all the while trying to
> >>figure out what you have to leave behind.
In the matter of one day's travelling time, we will leave our
> >>world of living next door to our best friends, walking
> >>across campus to eat, instant messenger, 8:30am
> >>classes, and the perpetual procrastination to a world
> >>that will seem foreign to us despite the fact that we
> >>lived in it for eighteen years. But it is different
> >>now.
We now know the meaning of true friendship. We
> >>know whom we have kept in touch with over the past
> >>year and whom we hold dearest in our hearts. We've
> >>left our high school world to deal with the real world. We've had our hearts
> >>broken, we've fallen in love, we've helped our best
> >>friends overcome depression, stress and death, we've been wasted
> >> and we've stayed up all night on the phone just to talk to
> >>a friend in need. There have been times when we've
> >>felt so helpless being hours away from home when we
> >>know our families needed us, and there are times we
> >>know we have made a difference.
One month from now we will leave. One month from now we take down our
> >>pictures, and pack up our clothes. No more going next
> >>door to do nothing for hours on end. We will leave our
> >>friends whose random email and phone calls will bring
> >>us to laughter and tears this summer. We will take our
> >>memories and dreams and put them away for now, saving
> >>them for our return to this world. One month from now
> >>we will arrive. We will unpack our bags and have
> >>dinner with our families. We will drive over to our
> >>best friend's house and do nothing for hours on end.
> >>We will return to the same friends whose random emails and
> >>phone calls have brought us to laughter and tears over
> >>the year. We will unpack old dreams and memories that
> >>have been put away for the past year.
In One month we will dig deep inside to find the strength and
> >>conviction to adjust to change and still keep each
> >>other close. And somehow, in some way, we will find
> >>our place between these two completely different
> >>worlds...are you ready?
