It really just hit me that I have less than 8 weeks left of school. To be fair, these past few weeks have been pretty crazy. We had spring break, which everyone thought was not long enough, especially with state basketball. Soon after, our pleas were heard because we then had a five day weekend due to a blizzard, which turned out to be longer than our actual break.

Although this title says spring, Nebraska is still very much experiencing winter. The eastern end of the state is almost completely submerged in water, as I have seen flood footage of up to 14 feet of water! Alliance seemed to have barely felt the large hit of the storm, as we only received about a foot of snow. Yes, we had some crazy drifts due to high winds, but at least we still have our homes, electricity, and dry socks.

Another crazy aspect to this spring is Track. Alliance High School will finally be able to host a home track meet after about 6 years. I, along with the rest of the track team, am so excited to run on this brand new track. However, we have only gone outside to practice for the past 2-3 days this season. Why? Because of the cold weather and snow.

Now back to the fact that my time is running out at AHS, and all I feel is bittersweet emotions. I am so excited to graduate and begin the next chapter of my life. At the same time though, I do not want to graduate and begin the next chapter of my life.

It feels like just last year I was in preschool with my best friend, Nolan, and 12 girls. Crazy how I am always extremely outnumbered by females, huh? The time between my first day of kindergarten and 8th grade graduation from St. Agnes Academy now feel like a blur. Added to this blur is freshman through sophomore year. I have recently tried to remember some of the things I did in my freshman classes, and could not come up with one thing.

I guess that I am just not mentally ready to grow up, even though that’s basically all of life. Life hits you with change, like the blizzard this month, without warning. In life, you don’t get a set date of when your whole world is about to change. So I suggest to all juniors and underclassmen who think they are ready to graduate, don’t think that. Last year, all I could think about is how ready I was to leave Alliance, and I never listened to last year’s seniors as they tried to convince me otherwise.

There will come a time during your senior year where you’re staring off into space during your least favorite class and you’ll eventually remember that it’s your turn. It’s your turn to write a Senior Side, to take senior pictures and post #SeniorSunday on Instagram, to get ready for Prom and then walk across that stage at graduation. As much as you may disagree with what you’re reading, just remember what you read when it finally happens.