The Final Story

In a few short days I will be graduating from this high school. All the memories I have made, all of the laughs, all of the anxiety and sadness. On the 14th, it will all be gone. I am not sure if it has really set in on me yet that I wont have to get up at 6:50 and get ready for school soon. For four years, this school has been my life. And soon this chapter of my book will be closed. It saddens me to know that the faces I see in the hall will be gone from my life. Sometimes I feel as if I ran out of time with some people. In my final year, I began to become close with those that I have not been. I have made a lot of lose relationships, and friends that I hope to keep for a lifetime. If I were to travel back in time to my freshman year and tell my past self where I am at today, he would think I am crazy. I still recall memories from my eight grade tour when Will Studdard told us that it would fly by in a blink of an eye. I thought he was crazy, but now in my final moments here, I realize what he meant. These four years have flown by. If I think hard enough, I can recall some of the crazy memories from my freshman year. Sophomore year was the biggest transition for me. I went and played basketball and made lifelong friends. No, I would call them my own brothers. Sophomore year was the year where I had to grow up. I had to make my final transition into being an upper class man. I had some major character development. Went through heartbreak and sadness for the end half of the year. But that was all part of the plan. Junior year was an exciting year for sure. It was my second year of basketball and the senior year of my close friends. Then covid hit. Covid took my close friends away and deprived me of me junior year in baseball. It made me depressed sitting in my house and doing nothing for months. It is something that I will never forget in my life. Finally, senior year. Senior year was unique due to the fact where I was quarantined more than anyone in the school. But it was full of fun memories. It just feels like yesterday when I was on the sidelines with Mrs. Kim and Joey taking pictures of the football games. It feels just like yesterday when I was putting the couch up on the catwalk during journalism hour. It feels like yesterday when I was starting in basketball and having the most fun in my life. Senior year was for sure a year that I will tell my future kids about one day. It is a year that was full of the good and the bad. But I wouldn’t change it for the world. The relationships that I made with my fellow peers and teachers, is something I hope that I will never lose. Mrs Kim and I are now best friends in my eyes. Even though we can both agree we hated each other earlier on, Mrs Kim will go down not only as my teacher, but also my friend. It all kinda feels like a fever dream to me. It really has set in yet that I will be leaving this school. I will be leaving it all behind and close this chapter of my life. It almost brings a tear to my eye thinking about the things I will leave behind. But it also brings me happiness. Yes, I wish there are things I have not done and yes, there are things I wish I had not done. But in the end it has made me into the man I am today. And I would not change it for the world. Will was right, these four years really do fly by. This is Ethan Alexzander Smith with a Z and this is my final story.