Dear future me,

Today is the day. I am completing my final paper of my high school years and I am sincerely at a loss for words. It came so much faster than I ever thought it could have. I have looked to the internet for help, and one suggestion was stream of consciousness writing, where I just sit down and write whatever comes to mind and try and make sense of it later. So, here it goes….

It’s over.

That about sums it up. I’m not as scared about the end of high school and the great beyond as I thought I would be. I would love to say that I have done my best, but in retrospect, I could have done better. I could have studied a bit harder, focused a bit more, complained a lot less, and listened substantially more. You see, future me, I’m really kind of stubborn sometimes and I need you to work on that for us. You and I have always had a strong parental force at home that tried to keep us on the right path, but I often pushed back, and once again, you get to try harder for us now.
I am making myself sound worse than I am. It’s not going to be all uphill for you, future self, for you see, I have a great many redeeming qualities. I have a kind heart and a loving soul and it’s very important that you hold those to our highest standard. I believe in myself and have self-worth and it’s your job to make sure that I always do.

Our next great adventure is college, and you will have so many opportunities to rewrite the chapters that I have come up short and strengthen the chapters where I excel, but I need you to understand that this is your only job. You have it in you to carry me to great heights and achieve my greatest dreams. I am counting on you, and it is your time to shine.

You are my greatest asset in the world and are my truest and most loyal friend. We have been together all the years, and future me, I know you will always be with me, just one step ahead, lighting the path that I might see. I know that I will stumble, but you will be there to pick me up, brush me off, dry my eyes, comb my hair, and set me back on our path.

To the class of 2022,

Do not take your senior year for granted. Any aspect of it.

I remember the day I was choosing my parking spot just like it was yesterday, it was nearly a year ago, and I am now sending out my graduation invitations. I remember always looking up to the class above me, but I am now the highest I have ever been in regards to the pyramid scheme of high school. So, with that being said, class of 2022, your senior year will be full of laughter, love and some of the best memories of your life, and you will find your people if you haven’t already. To say senior year is easy would not be the case, but it does get to a point where everyone has bonded so much that it becomes so much easier than years prior. You will determine where you want to go to college, and oftentimes you will have to leave the people you have grown up with, but that is okay. Everyone’s path in life becomes different after this crazy thing we call high school, but the memories and the bonds you have established will make everything worth it in the end. You will come back to Melissa High School in a few years and look back on the impact it had on you, and while it may have not always been smooth sailing, Cardinals have to learn to take flight, and that is one of the things that will influence your life going forward.

So, to the senior class stepping in behind us and to future me, I will close for now, but just remember, these next few years are going to be some of the best, and do not take any of it for granted.

Once a Melissa Cardinal, always a Melissa Cardinal. Forever and always, fly high.

ER