As I drove into the obnoxiously yellow parking lot, I couldn’t help but smile and laugh. For the last four years, I have hated the color yellow.  It washed me out and clashed with my blonde hair. But seeing yellow at my senior sunrise suddenly filled me with excitement. It was my time, my senior year, my senior sunrise. I wasn’t the freshman getting pelted with orange rinds or the junior thinking about my own parking spot.

Senior year is something I have been waiting for. It’s what I thought of when I was buried in homework and responsibilities. 

“Senior year, it’ll all be worth it.”

No one tells you that the first semester of senior year is like “terror of doom,” but it goes underground. Just when you think you’ve hit the bottom you just keep going. My first semester was filled with the stresses of choosing the right college, taking my last standardized tests and trying to save up money. 

Yet, it was also filled with my last football game, my last homecoming, and my last blue and silver. Senior year has created my favorite memories: how the sky looked during Powderpuff and how hard I laughed at Mr.Kadet. You never truly appreciate the little things until it’s your last time doing them. 

This year has helped me foster the most genuine relationships I’ve ever had. I met my people, something beautiful and rare. I learned more about my classmates and teachers than I ever thought possible. I began to realize that I would soon be leaving these people, so I resolved to cherish every moment.  

Senior year taught me to be grateful and how to explore. I pushed myself out of my comfort zone and talked to new people. I took new classes and got involved. After 12  years of climbing the mountain, I could see the peak and it felt amazing.

Second semester is supposed to be the easy part. It is supposed to be a little break from the stresses of the real world. You know where you are going to college, you have your life ahead of you and you can breathe. Just when we started getting comfortable. 

The Coronavirus started as a joke for many high schoolers. It was a hot topic on social media and was exploited by memes and online trolls. This happens all the time. There was the same internet frenzy over “World War 3” and “Ebola.”

The internet allows people to turn real issues into a joke because my generation likes to laugh things off and go with the flow. 

If you would’ve told me a month ago I would be sitting in my house wishing I could go to school tomorrow, I would’ve laughed at you.

When has a high school senior ever wanted to actually go to school? Unheard of. 

But this virus is very real and has taken a toll on everyone. Its wrath is universal. It’s been a reality check that has made me put my 18 short years of life into perspective.

It’s my senior year. I am supposed to graduate, in a navy cap and gown on a wooden stage smiling at my parents, not (potentially) over a Skype call with a crowd of heartbroken seniors. I am supposed to go to my senior prom and belt “closing time” one last time in a sparkly dress with my best friends. I am supposed to have my exit assembly and senior breakfast. There are so many lasts that we might not get to experience. 

We expect normal. We never plan on a pandemic or think about the what if’s because the list could go on forever. As a high school senior it is shocking to realize your last months with your friends and family might be experienced from your quarantined home. There are many of us mourning our lost memories. 

I should be picking out my dorm decorations, not worrying every time my dad goes to work. I should be counting down the days until graduation, not the days until we might go back to school. I should be laughing with my friends at lunch while talking about our futures, not calling them just to hear their voices. 

This school year isn’t even over and yet, I have experienced so much. My last Friday night lights, my first online school, my first parking spot, and many grilled cheese lunches. For many, humor is a coping mechanism, but this isn’t a joke anymore. This is our life, my senior year. 

I am extremely grateful for everyone who has tried to give the seniors their time and attention. This has taken a toll on everyone and has become a time where everyone needs each other, a time of togetherness. This has been my senior year, but the peak of the mountain is still in sight.