Did I Even Graduate?

Graduation was supposed to be one of the most memorable nights of your life. You spend your whole entire educational career leading up to the moment you receive your diploma; that must be special, right? Well, to tell you the truth, I can hardly even remember the night itself. I only recall the bright lights of the Murphy Center making it hard to pick out my family and friends from the crowd, the constant whooping and hollering whenever a name was called, standing up and sitting down a couple times, fighting back tears handing Mrs. Elliott my rose, hugging my friends and family who awaited this moment so very long, and searching through the masses of people at the end of the ceremony with a false hope of seeing them one last time.There was nothing unusual or disappointing about the commencement, it just happened so quickly. The names were read aloud as if it was a race against the clock to see which counselor could finish reading their names off first. We went through the motions like we had done at graduation practice that moment, except for when it was over, it was actually over. And that is something that still has not stuck in my mind yet.

I have my graduation cap propped up on a shelf next to my computer desk, and it is already collecting dust. My diploma with other papers and cards have been stored away in an old shoe box labeled "Graduation Box (DO NOT THROW AWAY!)". The months following graduation passed in a way that cannot quite be explained. Looking back through photos from that night, it is hard to reminisce about a night that hardly felt real. We spend so much time dreaming, waiting, and hoping for the night we graduate that once it came it was almost as if it never happened at all. I guess that is just the reality of the situation. In the end, you are just being handed a certificate for surviving all your years of schooling.

I will never not be grateful for the experiences and memories I made on the night of May 22, 2017, when I exerted most of my energy into making sure I did not trip on stage, pass out, or get yelled at for wearing too brightly colored of a dress underneath my gown. To hear a class of over five hundred students cheer as your name is finally called towards the end of the night (since my last name ends in 'w', naturally) was magical. Just like the entirety of my senior year, it was a moment that was there then gone too soon before you could properly enjoy it all. To anyone who I did not get to hug, see, or thank, I appreciate you being there. I will always look back on that night with an ambiguous fondness towards the people, occurrences, and location of Mt. Juliet High School's graduation for the Class of 2017.