Banquets and Leaving

     It's bitter sweet. The moment where you are excited to leave, yet sad to go. It doesn't even necessarily have to be you that is leaving to make you sad. Other people can leave and you can feel these same emotions. At my school we have banquets for the activities you are in. Whether it be a sport or a club or activity, there is a banquet at the end of the season/ year.

     At these banquets there tends to be senior recognition. This is the point where most people start to tear up. It's the moment when they finally start to realize that the people they have become so close to and have held so dear to their hearts are off to college. It is definitely a moment when your feelings contradict themselves. You are happy and excited that this person or even yourself has accomplished so much and is moving on to bigger and better things. Yet at the same time, you want to cry because that same person is leaving and you won't see them like you do now. I can tell you that nearly everyone experiences this contradiction.

     Which emotion takes over? Well, I'd like to think that they both come out just as equally, they are just expressed in a different way than you thought they would. And then there are the banquets that are for performing activities. Boy oh boy do these ones get emotional. Normally you have a large amount of teen girls that do something they have done for as long as they can remember, and then they realize, it's their last time doing it. It's crazy to think about really. You go along and talk about your future as if there will be a next time or a next year, and then you are hit with the hard reality that it is all over. You no longer get to see these people while doing something you love so much.

     I can speak from personal experiences that it definitely hits home. Even if you think that you are stronger than that, it suddenly overwhelms you. It takes over no matter how hard you try and talk yourself out of it. You can't help it. You don't even have to be a senior. It can just be that your close friend is graduating, or it is your last year doing something that you have let take over your life. And believe it or not, it's scary. When you think about the aftermath, you really don't know where you are going to go from there. There is no telling what your life will be like after this activity is gone from your life.

     I'd like to take a moment and dedicate this to all the seniors as well as the people I was lucky enough to work with in all my years of show choir. I am so lucky to have got the chance to experience this lovely thing with you. You all have become very dear to my heart and I couldn't imagine spending my entire high school career with you. I will miss you very much next year. And to those of you who have another year, you can expect me up front leading all the cheers before you go on. I love you.

~Hangin' from a clothesline