Every year at about this time, when a new crop of high school graduates gets ready to leave the first part of their lives behind, people tend to get reflective about their lives thus far, in comparison to what that young high school graduate thought life as an adult would be.
Have things gone to plan? Have things taken an unexpected, but joyful, turn? Would you do anything differently, if given the chance?
Believe it or not, for many of us who may seem quite ancient to today's graduates, high school doesn't seem as far away as today's date may suggest. I remember quite vividly, during my summers off in high school, spending my days babysitting my little niece while my sister and brother-in-law worked. She was a sweet, happy little baby who loved to be outside, to eat Cheerios by the handful and who demanded to be held during thunder storms. To my shock, that sweet little baby graduated from high school this year.
It sounds like a cliché, but I honestly don't know where those years between then and now went.
Sure, on paper, it looks like I've done well with my time. I graduated high school, attended university, got a degree, got a job, got a better job, and still a better job after that. I moved around several times, bought a car, bought a house, met some people who have impacted me greatly, and made a bunch of friends along the way. I've even taken a few vacations to far-off lands.
But I still feel like that 16-year-old kid most of the time. Or, at least, I don't feel my age - a number that moved up by one again last week.
I suppose that is a good thing. I could be feeling much older than I actually am, due to physical illness or depression.
But it's still a shock to look at a childhood photo of me and my mother and realize that I am now older than my mother was in that picture.
It's a shock when I look at the bucket list I made in high school of things to do by the time I'm 30 and realize I'm four years past that due-date and I still haven't done half of them (buying a castle is one of those on that list.... I was quite ambitious as a teen).
I suppose this is why God invented the mid-life crisis.
Hopefully, I have a lot more living to do, and more than enough time to cross things off my list. And a few more years before that mid-life crisis hits.
However, if I could give a piece of advice to this year's graduates, it's this: Enjoy the ride.
Life is full of joy, of unexpected turns, and of experiences both great and terrible. The trick is to suck all the joy out of it, make the unexpected turns an adventure, and as for experiences, to revel in the great, to get through the terrible, and to learn from both.
You may not follow the plan you've set out for yourself. But remember this: you are only 18. In the great scheme of things, you are still very, very young (though I know you feel very mature and knowledgeable about everything, far more so than your parents, I'm sure). The plans we make as youngsters sometimes aren't the best, or don't reflect who we truly are, and what we really want to do. In the end, as long as you are happy, you are on the right track.
So be happy. And when the birthdays begin to pile up, and you wonder where the years have gone, remember that getting another year older is far better than the alternative.
That's what I keep telling myself, anyway.
