i attended my high school's graduation this weekend. i didn't want to go. truthfully it's because i didn't really care enough about the majority of the class. being that they are only two years younger than i, they were just a pain in school. i was friends with a select few and that was it. but by certain circumstances i found myself attending with some former classmates and friends who i am still very connected through. for those reading and unaware of my school. it's small. i mean all grades in one building small. i never hated it. i actually loved it. but i diverge. so as i'm sitting on the bleachers that i have sat on so many times before watching these graduates it made me think. just two years ago i was them. i was unsure of where my life was heading. i didn't know what would happen when i walked out of that gym that night. truthfully then i was excited and sad on the outside, but i think i knew things were changing quickly. i was set to attend a college that i thought i loved, but wasn't completely sure because it was a second rate decision after not getting into my first choice. (it was a tough entrance). as it will turn out this college will the one of the best decisions i have ever made in my life. but that's another story for another day.
so i am sitting here watching a few of my friends and their classmates accept awards, watch their senior video(school specialty) and hear the speeches. turns out the one true friend in the class was salutatorian. he and the valedictorian gave a joint speech. it was funny and great. i was proud. then came their speaker. he was the history teacher whom i had for 3 years of high school. (bit of a history nerd). he got up there and i instantly knew that this speech would be great. it was basically a history lesson and inspiration in one. and even though i was no longer the graduate everything he said to me resonated. that's right the man is that good. he can touch a college junior in the crowd as well as 50 graduates. he told them how lucky they were to grow up in a small town. we are the heartland of America. that we are more like family than classmates because we grow up together and have each other's backs.
BUT here is the kicker, he said we need to leave. get out of town and discover the world. find out who you are and what you want. at this point in the speech i wanted to stand up and yell "Amen" and "Hallelujah", but i didn't. i wanted to do this because it is so true. being that graduate only two years earlier i have seen the results of not leaving. some of us couldn't leave for various reasons. others couldn't get out of there fast enough. i was lucky and smart enough to get out, but not forget where i came from. i still come home every weekend to see my family. some say that i'm stupid and not enjoying college. if you had my family you would understand. they mean absolutely everything to me. but again i diverge. then there are my classmates who had the chance to get out, but didn't. they stayed at home and went to community college. or they stayed and went right to work. sure some of these people are happy with that life, and that's great. i am not putting them down.
but then i see those that are miserable. have you ever heard the saying, "i live in a town that everyone hates, but never leave."? i live in that town. i have friends that complained about how they hated iberia and couldn't wait to get out. you know what? those are the ones that are still there and still complaining. they are stuck in their high school state of mind. they can't accept the fact that we moved on. they can't accept that nobody cares that they were fall fest queen or how many points they scored in a basketball game. these people peaked in high school. they were the greatest they will ever be in high school. and that makes me sad. because i have experienced the possibilities that are offered outside of that small town, and they are grand. i feel that everyone needs to experience this. sure that's not the case for them all and they may do great later. but that's not what i'm talking about.
i think we need to get out to appreciate what we have. which is exactly what the speaker said. i swear the man was linked to my brain. we have to get out. we have to experience the world. we have to fail. we have to lose. we have to win. we have to love. we have to laugh. we have to travel. we have to do all the things that we have ever wanted to do that we couldn't while in iberia. for me that is being a college cheerleader for two years. only to come to realize that i'm done. that chapter is over in my life. 10 years is enough. it will always be in my heart, but it's time for something new. like travelling. finally studying abroad to London. finally getting to do something that nobody i know has done yet. to be the one who proves that the girl from iberia is not just some small town hick. to be the one that can spend 5 months in a country where nobody knows her and make new memories and friends. then come back and spend my last collegiate year throwing all caution to the wind. the great thing about doing all this. is that we can come back.
we get to come back. we can go everywhere and anywhere we want. we can do as we please and forget everything we have ever done. but when the time comes, if it ever comes, we can come home. we don't have to get out forever. just long enough that we realize that our home is exactly that, OUR home. it will be the town where it all started. it's where the dreams began. me, i will come home. i don't know when or why, but i will come home. whether it continue to be every weekend until i die, or when i graduate college and get a teaching job. i have never hated my home. maybe because my junior year i almost had it taken from me. i think it was then that i realized how much this town meant to me. how much the people in this town meant to me. how much it will always mean to me.
so what i really want to say to those graduates that will probably never read this. get out. do not stay in this town. leave. experience life outside of iberia. trust me. it may be terrifying, but i promise it is worth it. it will make coming home so much sweeter. warning you will feel like an outcast at first. that awkward encounter when you feel excluded from everything. but then you will reunite with your friends and family and that goes away. remember that it's okay to not want to come back for a while when you leave. remember that it's okay to want to come back the second you're gone, but don't come back yet. but do come back. share your accomplishments, people will be proud. some will be jealous, but frankly that just means you're doing something right. know that the second that you walked across that stage that your life was changed for good. accept it. embrace it. work it girl. do it all. just leave home to do it.
"Home is a place you grow up wanting to leave, and grow old wanting to get back to."
John Ed Pearce
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xoxo
Sam
