Leaving High School:

Hello everyone. I hope you enjoy this read, since it is something significant to me I have been sitting on awhile

I graduate high school in six weeks. I cannot believe it. I have incredibly mixed emotions, I am super happy and excited to move on to the next phase, start living for me, and making my own life choices, super worried, because like many others, I find large transitions terrifying and the lack of knowledge about what’s coming nerve wracking. I’m partly sad, because I really had a fun high school experience, and I feel like due to covid I missed a whole year of it. I know I won’t be leaving home right away, since my college doesn’t have dorms, and I will be staying in town at least for a few more years, but I still can’t help but worry, despite a detailed plan.

Here comes the cheesy part. I have listened to “Puff the magic dragon” for the first time in years, because I’m ultimately a sucker for folk music, and the song struck harder than before. The message of growing old, hippie fun and friends coming and going I knew already, but a fourth, stronger message hit me. Change.

For those unfamiliar the song tells a tale of an ageless dragon who plays with his human friend, who eventually spends less and less time with him, and presumably dies, leaving the poor derg on his own to wallow. I heard this other version from the band, where the final verse is changed, from “Puff the magic dragon lived by the sea and frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Hona Lee” to “Puff the magic dragon lives by the sea (Present tense!) and frolicks in the autumn mist, (ect). This change struck me, since to me, it implies he was sad for awhile but eventually adapted to the change and got over it. I feel like Puff right about now, High School is the human boy in the story, leaving me, and I feel like Puff, heartbroken and distraught. However, he adapts to the change and keeps enjoying his life after a brief period of mourning, but my problem is getting there. I too, hope to move on from high school and feel great again, and enjoy my life in the present tense, like the derg does.

Now that we have discussed sorrow, let’s discuss joy. Other times I feel like Ash Ketchum, getting ready to embark on his Pokémon journey. The joy he feels is intense, and his etscatsy is entoxicating. Part of me is excited for perusing happiness my own way, like him, enjoying the balance of work, school and social life and fantasy, creativity and forging my own happiness. I am incredibly lucky to have had a great family, who supports me through this tough transition, and I give credit to my real life friends who help me through these things, and all the wonderful teachers and therapists who have helped me, and finally I extend my thanks to you. You guys have helped and continue to help me through my life, and I see a lifelong home in the fandom, despite the ever changing life conditions.

In conclusion, I have a big change coming, and I have felt many things, but one consistent thing is the joy I feel being around wonderful people.