I came home from college yesterday. I have been gone for at least a month maybe more. It was nice being around my family again. I was able to attend my younger sisters band program which was actually pretty good, and I was able to spend some good quality time with my youngest sister, which I haven’t done enough of. They are both growing up so fast. My youngest sister is finally starting to shoot up and has gotten pretty tough. I think soccer is helping with that. The older of the two has gotten her braces off and is absolutely gorgeous, she has the boys falling for her left and right. She has a good head on her shoulders though so I’m not too worried about her. I had the opportunity to attend the junior play at CBA (Corn Bible Academy the jr high, high school I graduated from). It was great to see everyone, but a strange sensation kept happening over and over again. It started as I walked up to the front doors of the school; I noticed how small it was. Now I know I’m not crazy but I could swear that it was a heck of a lot bigger the last time I was there. And as I stepped in the front doors into the building that was my second home for six years of my life the same thing happened. Everything was smaller. The single hall way where the majority of the classrooms and lockers were located that used to stretch out forever is now comically short, and as I stepped into the auditorium where we held chapel, class plays, meetings, watched movies, took naps. Where we goofed off during lunch and took all our school pictures. That place where I had been spiritually fed and worshiped with all my heart. I was overcome by the fact that, it too had become much smaller. And I started thinking back and remembering all the great times I had, people I loved. I thought back on all the heart breaks and crappy days I had. I think back and remember what it felt like to be a seventh grader coming to a brand new town and to a new school where I knew no one and how scary that was. I remember being in the eighth grade listening to the seniors give their testimony and telling us how quickly the time flew. I believed them but I never imagined how quickly time really would fly. I remember my freshman and sophomore years finally growing up a little bit more, and not being the youngest in the school. Then junior and senior year, being at the top of the food chain having a blast and just enjoying school because we could get away with pretty much whatever we wanted. Then graduation finally came and as soon as it had come, it was gone. Now the kids that were always the younger classmen are the ones who run the school. The seventh and eighth graders are now the juniors and seniors. It’s weird for me. Right now I am in a unique stage in my life where I have been in college for a couple of years now so I am well adjusted and dealing with those issues but I can still go back to high school and know students there. I start remembering some of the issues that I was facing and how trivial they were but they seemed huge to me at the time. As I gazed into the faces of these kids that I know and love I can’t help but wonder if they are going through the same things I did. I think about the issues I’m facing now that I’m a college student and it gives me peace to know that in a few short years I’ll be looking back on those issues and laughing at how petty some of them were. It’s also interesting to look ahead and imagine myself in my parents place. A couple of years ago at Christmas my mom’s side of the family was gathered at my grandparents house and all my aunts and uncles were lounging around in the living room. Most of them were napping and I just started gazing into their faces. As I did a thought struck me. They are just grown up teenagers. They are just like me, only they have lived longer and experienced more. They are just human beings who make mistakes and struggle with stuff just like I do. The difference is that they are in a different stage of life than I am, and since they have experienced most of the stuff that I have already they have the wisdom and knowledge to guide me through the issues that I am dealing with. Also the realization struck me that I will be where they are before I know it. It’s neat to imagine what my parents and their siblings were like when they were my age and then watch them grow up into the people they are today.
I suppose the lesson to be gained from all of that is simply this: help those who are following you, live fully with those who are surrounding you, and learn from those who have gone before you. And we must not forget that we were once that annoying little kid asking for help, and we will soon be the old person who is supposedly no help to society. Both are invaluable, necessary and to be treated with respect. And if we took the time to engage them we just might find that we could learn some valuable lessons.
