One Day More: A Brief Reflection on the Past Year

I’m sorry that I’m crying, it’s just that I’m so happy to be here right now.

Tomorrow is orientation at Wellesley College. I think it’s important to pause once in a while to look back, as cliche as the premise of this post is.

Roughly a year ago, I picked up The Lord of the Rings from a library bookshelf, and it changed my life.

A year ago, I would have been incredulous to the notion that today I would be a day away from attending an all-women’s liberal arts college in Massachusetts.

A year ago, I had my heart firmly set on preparing impressive, articulate essays for the Common App, ED-ing to Johns Hopkins University, and majoring in BioMedical Engineering.

This time last year, the thought of starting and maintaining a blog had not crossed my mind yet.

525,600 minutes. (A year ago, I had never heard of the musical, Rent.)

“Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes (Turn and face the strange)
Turn and face the strain.”

-David Bowie

(One year ago, lots of people didn’t listen to David Bowie.)

One year ago, my vision was so fogged up that I could only see a week’s worth of assignments ahead of me instead of a long-term future.

One year ago, I shakily took up the mantle of leading my high school’s Christian youth group.

A year ago, my best friend’s father was still alive.

Now, I am a few hundred books and poems wiser and lived vicariously through them.
I’ve dropped time on the 200m IM and 100m Butterfly.
I’ve worked my way from a predicted score of 3 to a real-life 5 on my AP Calculus BC exam.

Now, I’ve been to Europe and I have seen Greece and Italy.
I have tasted alcohol for the first time (and really really enjoyed it, but shh don’t tell).
I own a MacBook Air and have upgraded to a HuaWei smartphone.

More importantly, I have left high school and am prepared to begin the next era of my education.

So, here goes. This hour is the breath before the plunge. And I am savoring it with all my senses.