REFLECTIONS

As first month of the new year comes to a close, I just realized how much reflecting and reminiscing I've been doing this school year (the past few weeks in particular). Each school year could easily be described in a single word, but when first semester ended last week, I realized that I had no adjective for my year so far. As I thought more about it, this last year of high school had been filled with memories and comparisons to my past years, so it's safe to say that the word for senior year is "reflective."

For weeks, the smallest things would remind me of things of the past: a mention of Van Gogh (winter trips to MoMA), homemade foods (for those snowy Pennsylvanian nights), or a phrase that an old friend used to say ("I'm going to go get some juice"). My thoughts would just dwell on these events and memories for a few minutes, filling me with nostalgia, and I'd often find myself just sitting alone thinking, almost stuck in the past.

But last week, as I reached down to loop the leash onto my dog's collar, he jumped at me and snapped at my necklace. It was one that my closest friends gave to me before I moved to Washington in 2012, and I watched in horror as it snapped in half and the charms scattered all over the floor. As I picked up the various pieces, I thought to myself that maybe it's time to stop dwelling on the past: it's time to move forward. With college just around the corner, I realize that time is fleeting and life goes on.