Dreaming (An Ode to High School, Part 1)

“People think dreams aren't real just because they aren't made of matter, of particles. Dreams are real. But they are made of viewpoints, of images, of memories and puns and lost hopes.” 

  ― Neil Gaiman     

It all started with a four year old child walking timidly through the doors of their first classroom. It ends with an older self slowly walking the stage, shaking hands and receiving a paper they have been working for since their young years. After the end, begins a madness of working for a dream. 

Grade twelve, the final year, the last stretch and an infinite question: "what will be?" For some, they have been dreaming about the years to come for quite some time. For others, racing to submit applications to college and university have only made them a whirlwind more anxious than they were prior to this time period. Regardless, we are all dreaming about this future that is ahead, whether we are nervously or happily awaiting it's arrival. 

Almost hitting the half way mark, I've come to discover that all of high school has been a journey of self-discovery. In four years, I have let my passions begin to flourish in ways unimaginable. I've created and fostered dreams. I was loved, lost love and acquired love that will last a life-time with some of the most amiable beings on this earth. In four years, I have learned and am still learning that the way to live is to create happiness for yourself and give passion in everything you do. 

Through stress, the crazy exam periods, nervously biting nails waiting for the notorious acceptance letter and morning coffees (or earl grey tea lattes in my case) to wake us up, it will all be worth it. Sometimes it takes losing yourself in this magnificently horrendous riptide to find where you want to be. We've all been dreaming for years, big and small, now it's just a matter of doing.