Growing pains can

consume the body, whether

it’s physically, emotionally

or both. The painful tingle in the knee. The aching

pieces of the heart left shattered after a broken

relationship. I’m not the first to be forced into new

stages of life, and I most certainly won’t be the last.

Over the past year, I’ve been forced to

grow more emotionally than I would have

ever expected. My life has drastically

changed and I know I’m not the same person

I was at the beginning of the year. But I can

accept that. The only part I can’t accept is

the question of whether or not I’m better off

than before all this “growing up” started.

In the past year, I’ve lost two best friends:

one by choice (which I now regret) and one

by overall personality conflict. Even though

both friendships ended differently, each has

changed the way I viewed myself as a friend.

With the first lost friendship, I truly messed

up what I had built with my best friend since

seventh grade. When I realized it was no

longer convenient for us to see each other, I

decided it was best we didn’t talk anymore. I

had convinced myself I knew what better than

her on every aspect, including her personal life.

Weird, I know. At the time, I thought my views

and values were correct by default. With this

immature logic, I pushed away a great friend.

The other lost friend helped me learn just

how important communication can be to a

friendship. Phone call, email, text message,

MySpace, Facebook, written letter, telegram,

carrier pigeon, there are so many ways to contact

people nowadays there is almost no excuse for

not keeping in touch. But, there is also a time and

place for non-verbal communication. With all the

evolving forms of contact, nothing beats a faceto-

face conversation when a friend really needs

help. Hiding behind a computer solves nothing.

Also, communication of how one is feeling

can make or break a friendship. Not only did

this friend and I not keep in contact like true

friends should, but this person kept bottled

up anger from me for a year and a half. All of

these factors added together equaled one big

blowout fight and one even bigger broken heart.

I know my heart is healing day-today,

but I’m not quite familar with the

person I’m becoming. Even though I’m

impatient, I know only time will tell.

For a long time, I didn’t want to move on

from these relationships. My senior year has

literally been dedicated to figuring out my

life without these two friends. Growing from

these has only added to the other aspects

in my life that are staring me in the face.

Those dreadful growing pains struck once

more when I was, again, walking away from

something I loved dearly. I quit dancing ballet

at the end of my junior year, and even though I

promised myself I would still take ballet classes,

that has yet to happen. I didn’t quit ballet because

I didn’t love dancing anymore; it’s actually the

exact opposite. I quit because I found I simply

love journalism more. I didn’t want to only put

a fraction of myself into dance when I would be

surrounded by dancers who wanted to be there

whole-heartedly. Being forced to grow out of the

“dancer” identity was something I almost never

expected to do, but I have to just keep telling

myself that I made the right decision because,

as of right now, there is no looking back.

Even though I know I’m not the only senior

that feels this way, I’m completely ready to grow

up and move on into college. High school is

all about what one makes of it: the classes, the

people, the life-lessons. I truly feel that students

will get out of high school exactly what they put

into it. Now, I’m ready to move on to college to

face the new experiences and meet new people

that will shape my life. I know I will miss home

and I know I will still be sad on graduation day,

but I also know I can handle life away from home

and the new experiences that will come my way.

Being forced to move on is a part of life, or

at least that’s what I’m told. With everything

I’ve been through, looking back on these

experiences, I know that I have come out

with a stronger sense of self, but I still

find myself working on that time machine.