Many children change their favorite color as they grow up, blue to red and purple to yellow. I chose my favorite color at the ripe age of four as I picked out my very first pair of glittery, pink sunglasses. From then on I would steal my mom’s pink heels that would swallow my little feet whole and wear my ruffley pink dress almost every day. As everyone was waiting for my favorite color to change as I grew up, it never did.
Fifth grade graduation, all we talked about was how exciting it was to move on to middle school. I felt so grown up but at the same time, still young. COVID shut my middle school years down quickly. Masks and TikTok dances became my life. Still, in this scary and eventful period of my life, I still held onto my positive nature.
When eighth grade graduation came around. I felt like I was finally moving into what I thought the “real world” was. I had watched so many movies on high school students and knew that was going to be what my four years was going to look like. I attended freshman orientation in summer. There were seniors there who mentored the rising freshman. Most of their spiel was to use the side stairwells because the main ones were always crowded, and to make sure to turn in work on time. Yes these things were important to know and yes, I still mainly use the side stairs. However, the one thing that stuck with me was when my mentor said “you won’t believe me, but these next four years go by so fast, so soak it all in when you get the chance.” Obviously freshman year me did not listen and I thought I had all the time in the world.
Freshman and sophomore year went by in a flash, I made so many new friends and really opened up from the shy girl I was. Junior year came around and even though it was my hardest year with classes and managing being a first time cheerleading captain, I still had my very supportive, funny, and genuine friendships. I even developed a close friendship with my now best friend, Mackenzie Randlett.
Senior year, already almost over.Teachers have the countdowns to graduation written on whiteboards and in Google Classroom streams. Somehow, it doesn’t feel real yet. I wish I could go back to fifth grade, I now realize that growing up is much scarier than I thought it would be. I don’t think about the “freedom” I will get or the college experience. Instead, I think about no longer being just down the road from my friends or stealing clothes from my sister when I am having an outfit crisis. I think about the late night Sheetz runs or begging my mom to let me go over to Kenzie’s house just “one more time this week.”
Yes, high school has shaped who I am. I am more resilient, independent, and more open to being who I want to be, not what society thinks I should be. However, some things never change. The way I’ve never been afraid to laugh loud and smile big, the way I will forever scream my favorite songs in the car, and the fact that my favorite color is still glittery, hot pink.
