After I graduated high school, my dog ate my diploma. A new chew toy for the family dog was the sum of my high school years. The 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grade hallways were spent worrying about others’ opinions of me and listening to the latest classroom drama. There was no difference between a dog’s bone and my diploma.
The summer before I set to college, I reconnected with childhood friends to reenvision our lives. It was the age of careless youthfulness. We walked barefoot throughout our days to the endless summer nights and woke up to the bright future ahead of us. Our eyes were open to the wild and short world and we vowed to conquer our precious piece of it.
I discovered music that made me euphoric. Laughter so contagious I was sick for days. Late nights on the lake and conversations I don’t remember. We drove the 1998 Chevy Malibu until its wheels fell off. For the first time, I didn’t care about others’ perceptions of me or my out of trend clothes. I felt truly alive and not simply living.
Moving into college my freshman fall of ‘22, I promised myself not a mundane life. To live even an ounce of the summer days I was leaving behind. I still remember the first night spent in my new dorm on the sixth floor of Merton Hall. I felt so small and out of place, but a subtle humming in bones, a feeling that my next four years were going to be memorable.
Now, reflecting on my time at Sacred Heart, I am happy I held my promise. I’ve made amazing friends who became my family, my roommates became my sisters. I’ve traveled to National Parks across the country, sleeping in hammocks and meeting friendly strangers. CDs live in my car’s radio and my book stack became a tower. I’ve laughed, and cried, felt overjoyed and overwhelmed, I’ve bloomed into my confidence. I’ve been 18 and 22 with more and more memories that have forever changed my life.
With 10 days until graduation, it’s evermore a reminder that time is too precious. I will not remember my gen ed grades or what was trending on social media. But I will remember dancing front row at the Beach Boys concert, skating on the new hockey arena’s ice for the first time, sleepovers in Shannon and Maddie’s freshman year dorm, meeting Francesco’s and my campsite neighbors from West Virginia, decorating for many pregames and parties in our house living room, or accidentally dying my hair black and laughing with my friends about it for days. I will remember the connections, the friendships, the fun, the emotion. And I will remember how saddened I am to watch these next few days of senior year drift to memories.
As I turn my tassel from right to left at graduation, I’ll be reminded that my college years were not wasted. The fun of four years will not be confined to the lamented ink of my diploma. So as long as I have my memory, my dog can have my diploma.
