Month: June 2014

As a part of one of the English classes I took in college at Belmont, my classmates and I were given an assignment where we had to pretend that we were the chosen commencement speakers on our graduation day. We had to write the speech towards the middle of the semester, and deliver it on the day of our final exam. One of the guys in class gave a great speech about the paradox of change being the only constant and consistent thing that happens in people’s lives. His words are coming to life all around me as I type this.

Just in 2014 alone, 6 people I know have gotten engaged, 3 people have had kids, and another 7 have gotten married. In addition to that, many adults I know are growing older. In between the place where I attended middle school and the place where I went to high school, 6 teachers and staff members have retired. All 6 had been at their respective schools for more or less their entire careers.

I went to the retirement party for one of these aforementioned teachers a few weeks ago at Christ the King, my middle school. Many of this teacher’s former students were there. Several of them were little kids when I was at CKS, just kindergartners and first graders. They’re teenagers now. I can’t believe all of this is happening.

Young adulthood is an interesting phrase marking a rather interesting part of life. My peers and I are adults now. We are at the point where we’re expected to take on the responsibilities of fully grown people. We’re done with college. Some of us are done with grad school or in it right now. Many people I’ve known have gotten engaged, married and/or started families of their own. (Which means that their parents have become grandparents! Holy cow!). People are joining the workforce and pursuing the jobs they’ve studied and prepared for. Some of us have spread out across the country and around the world.

But, at the same time, we’re still young. We’re still looking to the older adults in our lives as mentors for their guidance and perspective on how to handle these new roles that we’ve taken on. We’re not expected to have too much wisdom about adulthood, or life, or how to be a successful human being because we’re beginning to navigate through all those things ourselves. We’ve heard commencement speeches not too long ago, but it’ll be awhile before anyone would want to call upon us to give one anywhere.

Speaking of commencement, was it really 6 years ago that my classmates and I graduated from high school? Was it really that long ago that we were at Project Graduation busting a gut at our friends’ terrible karaoke singing? Was it 6 years ago that I was walking across Belmont’s stage for the first time as a high school graduate, and 6 months ago I did the same thing the second time as a college graduate? Was it one year ago that we had our 5 year reunion, when people’s faces were familiar and strange all at once?

And now people are becoming husbands and wives, and moms and dads, and accountants, and teachers, and soldiers, and engineers, and musicians, and actresses, and spreading out across the country.

I don’t know if this applies to my readers, but it never seemed that time moved this fast when I was a kid. Now that I’m older, each year seems to go by faster and faster. Or maybe it always went by this fast and I never noticed it until now.

But is this all life is? Is it a roller coaster that gradually goes faster and faster until it flies off the tracks and the passengers crash and burn? Or does it just feel like that? I don’t know the answer. But however things go, we should enjoy the ride. Because it goes by way too fast.