Since the start of the school year, I have been pushing the thought of graduation aside. I have been pretending that it isn’t inevitable as a way to cope with how sad I actually am. For the first couple of weeks, this denial method actually worked. However, last night at Senior Night I had to learn the hard way that the sad goodbyes won’t wait until spring and I will have to face some of them as early as October. One example of this was when I played my last home volleyball game ever and had to deal with the fact that my team and I only have a couple more days together. 

For the past three years, I have loved Senior Night for all the sports. It always was the night of the biggest student section and best cheers. But this year it felt so different because I am one of those seniors. I was shocked to see a huge banner of my face hanging in the gym even though I knew the moms do those banners every year. I wasn’t expecting my team members to write me letters even though I had written letters the past three years. And I definitely wasn’t prepared for the overflow of emotions from my teammates and other seniors.

The night started out with the announcement of all of the senior fall sport athletes. When our names were called, we walked out to meet other members of our teams and receive cute scrapbooks and other presents. When my coach hugged me and gave me a handwritten letter, I had a hard time not getting emotional. But then I looked out into the student section and saw my classmates dressed as senior citizens and couldn’t help but laugh. My sadness immediately went away at the sight of so many of everyone completely decked out in theme. 

Even though we lost to Gross, I wasn’t upset at all. The whole night was so much fun and I know I will remember it forever. It was sad to say goodbye to this part of my life but I am happy for the memories it gave me. On the positive side, I’m glad the sad goodbyes are spread out, so I won’t have to deal with it all at once in the spring.