It doesn’t seem like I’ve been writing these editor’s notes for that long. I can’t quite wrap my head around the fact that this is the last one.  I don’t really know what to say, but here it goes.

My four years in high school seem like they started yesterday.  I can still remember walking into my parent’s bedroom at my old house on the morning of.  I was wearing my Beatles shirt and jeans.  My hair was curled like bell bottoms.  I remember their faces, realizing that their youngest child was now a freshman in high school.  I remember them taking a picture, wondering what exactly would come of it.

I remember my friends and my adventures; my homework and my downtime.  I remember having my life changed in the U.S. Southwest, Cambodia and Belgium.  I also remember having my life changed right inside the walls of 5400 Ziegler Road.

For me, it doesn’t seem like there is less than a month of high school remaining.  But that is the truth.  Four years sped by quicker than one can even begin to imagine.  Friends, first loves, and the ones that got away.  That is the past now.

I’m really glad that I got to write to you guys, even if you turned the page before seeing my words.  I’m glad that I got to create 11 issues as editor of Etched In Stone, and to help spread a wealth of knowledge around our already knowledgeable community.

Being a senior isn’t quite what people think it will be.  There isn’t a feeling of being in charge of the school.  There isn’t an overwhelming excitement for graduating.  And there isn’t a senior parking lot.  You fools are imagining things.  But there is an immense want to be done with everything, and an uncontrollable feeling of finishing.  The long stretch seems long at first, but it is over before you know it.  And the road is full of plenty of regrets.

I wouldn’t call high school a journey.  I would call it a collection of stories that contain journeys of their own.  Like the time after my sophomore year that I had a tarantula crawling on my chest in rural Cambodia.  Or the time during my freshman year when Taylor Ziolkowski walked right into one of the poles between the doors in the hallway leading to the library.  I was on the ground crying from laughter.  Or the excitement when I was named Content Editor at the beginning of my junior year.  It seems surreal to be able to say that high school is almost over.  That there is only one story left here, and with only one journey remaining.

I’ve had a great time being a student at Fossil Ridge High School.  I’ve had a great time being the editor-in-chief of Etched In Stone.  And I’m going to have a great time being whoever I need to be in the years ahead.