Blue Falcon

One Year Older... One Year Wiser?

High School Graduation, every time I think of that day, I think of Brian Adams "Summer of 69". That night to me was indeed one of "the best days of my life". Everything went so well, The dance, the food, the friends, the memories were all rolled into one huge spectacle of remembering that this was indeed what we had worked for for the last 12 years of our lives.

Now, one year after the fact, I reminisce about all the things I have learned after one revolution around the sun. I speak of the lessons that School cannot teach and only life can grant in its own twisted way.

Of all the things I had to learn, none was harder to take than the death of my Grand-father. He was one of the men that always told me I could do great things if I worked for them. He was the one that taught me how to use a hammer, helped me with building little model cars, and always told me that to get the best, you must give the best you have. He was a man of little words and yet had a lot to say. He was indeed a great man that lived a great life, and will always be with me till the day I die.

Although the death of my grandfather was quite a hard pill to swallow so was another lesson that I learned not once but twice in the same year: that sometimes you can give all you have got and more, and still not come out on top. This came up both in my being forced to take the year off, and my relationship difficulties. Although I find it cruel that I had to experience this lesson twice, I feel I may have needed the reality check to get my life on the right track. I needed to learn that there are some goals that I have that I will never achieve, and others that need more work than I think. That not everything will just be handed to you on a silver platter so to speak. The trick is knowing when to keep going, and when to give up. Both of which I did not know at the appropriate time.

Aside from that double-header life lesson however, one lesson that I do really appreciate learning is what the real definition of "Hard Work" is. This Cribbing job, though paying well and giving me good exercise, is the hardest job to do. I don't really like doing it, but it makes me appreciate that if I don't want to work this hard for a career, that I have to do well in school. I also now know how hard I have to work to earn decent money with only a High School Education. (The answer is: A LOT!)

Im happy that I had this opportunity to learn what I did this year despite how hard these lessons were to learn. Would I do it all again? I don't know, only time will tell. I am much more matured than I was 12 months ago and less naive to how the world works. Currently I anctiously await the start of my first year of Engineering. However, from what I have seen from other people in the program, I will probably be dreading it by November. Until then however...

Oh when I look back now
That was seems to last forever
And if I had the choice
Yah - I'd always wanna be there
Those were the best days of my life

~Brian Adams - Summer of 69

This is Falcon, signing off.

posted by Blue Falcon @ 8:53 PM