Yesterday afternoon, I drove by my high school. Without looking, I already knew what was happening. The drum beats clearly signified early rehearsals for marching band and color-guard; I was part of neither. However, it brought back memories of theater and music folk mingling in the hallways of "D-Wing," our territory of the school, and suddenly I found myself remembering the innocence of the first day of school and what it was like to be a kid... The world was so important, and yet nothing at all really mattered.
(Yes, Dory, we were the cougars... laugh. It's funny.)
We were all drama queens - male or female. I'm fairly certain that there was a large chunk of time in which someone I knew was always crying - myself or a friend. 14, 16, 18. It didn't matter. High school was the world, the bubble. We were best of friends, but we talked about each other. We were buddies in class, but we never saw each other out of school. We were group partners on a project, but we hated having to carry someone else's load. It was truly a microcosm for the bigger picture. And yet it wasn't even close to experiencing the real world.
There have been times when my brother and I would see kids either at Disney World or exiting school at 3:30pm, and all we could think of is, "They have no idea what's coming." I interact with kids on a daily basis at work, and I'm reminded of how easy everything was before term papers, application essays, job interviews, and monthly bills. Remember that break down because you had too much work due? I had one. Remember the tears shed over a nasty rumor? I was there.
That, all of that, was easy. Really, what if you had to deal with half the shit those kids in Hogwarts had? I'm pretty sure you never encountered a Death Eater or a Dementor.
Responsibilities were small but heavily weighted at the time. One year was more complicated than the one before. But there were structures, routines, rules. Maybe that's part of the reason so many people go into the field of education. It helps to prolong and sustain what we have learned and cultivated for so many years. School, break, school, summer... Truthfully, post-college, one of the weirdest things is getting used to the idea that you no longer have a real summer, one that involves movies, days off, and vacations.
True, I have a lot of great memories from high school, and I still hold onto a few friends from those years (and some before). I was the weird kid that enjoyed writing papers and reading teacher feedback; I have a lot of my old work underneath my bed. But I hated the tears and the melodramatic everything that I was involved in or causing. It was easier, yes, but it was silly, immature, and just a part of growing up... getting to the more difficult stuff.
I used to say that I would go back and do it all over again. High school, that is. But lately, when I've thought about it, I realized I have absolutely no desire to be in those hallways or in a 15 year-olds shoe's ever again (although, it'll all come back one day when I have my own kids). I remember a lot of heartache and unnecessary problems. I remember bitter fights and rude e-mails. Sure, there were proms and shows, sleepovers and get-togethers, but it's over, and over isn't always a bad thing.
So, yeah, maybe life isn't that easy once you leave high school and college, but there's nothing holding you back, no bell to disrupt your test-taking (or sleeping, if you were THAT kid). The choices don't have to be easy, and the answers don't have to be in multiple choice format. Because you'll get there one way or another.
"Do one thing everyday that scares you."
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