Lasts & Firsts

       This is my last time writing to you as a high schooler, and I really don’t know how to feel about it. I’m happy, and I’m sad, and I’m happy that I’m sad, and I’m sad that I’m happy—like I said, I really don’t know how I feel about it. All year, but especially these last few months, I’ve been having a lot of “lasts.” Last band/choir concert, last prom, last state music trip, last speech meet, last state convention, last month of high school, you know, normal stuff.  But this last week, my last full week of high school, things got out of hand. I just started putting “high school” in front of everything I was doing. I said things like, “Awwwhh, you guys, this is the last high school test I will ever bomb!!” Thank you, Physics, for making that one possible, by the way.
       A few other examples: last high school paper I wrote, last high school project I completed, last time I ate a bowl of chili in my high school cafeteria, last time Lucy and Mary asked me if I had any homework, last time I hung a jacket in my high school locker, last Friday in high school that Mr. Weisenburger told us not to do anything he wouldn’t do, last time I forgot to do my high school homework, last time I waved to my high school English teacher in the hallways after lunch, last time I walk into my high school and Ralph said, “Good morning, Anna” and I said, “Good morning, Ralph”,  last time I wore my favorite jeans walking through my high school, last time Gary told me to give a fellow high schooler “a pound”, last time I made copies in the office of my high school, last time I studied in my high school library, last time I wrote my column as a high schooler…you get the idea.
In a few days it will be my last day of high school. But after that begin the “firsts”, which are far more exciting: first graduation, first apartment, first roommate, first day of college, etc. Something about all of these events scares me just the right amount. Knowing I’m not ready is terrifying, but knowing I’m not supposed to be is oddly comforting. A friend of mine once said, “Sometimes I think about the past and miss it, but then I remember the future is right around the corner and realize it's probably way better!” I think that’s a great attitude to have. We can’t relive the past, so why not work to make our future even better? It’s bound to be, anyway.
Always, Anna

Every Day is a Good Day

Spring is in the air (finally) and it's time to start smelling the hypothetical roses, everybody. This week we're talking about happiness.
     Most people do not consider themselves to be truly happy. Can we please change this?! Last week, as I rushed into my first period class tardy after sleeping through my alarm, a classmate jokingly asked me how my morning was. I chewed on my pop tart and decided, "Good! We only have a few weeks of high school left, and every day is going to be good for the rest of the school year." They wished me luck with that sarcastically and went back to their notes, but I took that promise to myself seriously and have reminded myself of that challenge every day since. Guess how many bad days I've had since then? That's correct: ZERO. It's not that my life is any different, but my outlook and attitude are.
     Happiness is not an effect others can have on you, or an obligation anyone else has to supply you with. Happiness is a daily decision we can all make. As John Cusack's character Lloyd Dobler in Say Anything asks, "How hard is it to decide to be in a good mood and be in a good mood once in a while?" It's completely up to us. I know that that sadness and depression are very serious, and I'm no doctor, but I truly believe that if everyone just made the decision to be happy, they could and would be. I'm proving it to myself as an experiment of my own, and so far so good! It's not always easy, as life certainly isn't always easy, and I constantly have to remind myself. But all I have to do is smile and say, "Today is a good day. Every day is a good day." Because that is the truth.
     Whether or not you think your life is awesome, you've got life, and that is awesome. My dad called me while I was writing this, and when I told him about my happiness theory, he agreed with a quote from somewhere neither of us could remember exactly what movie or book from, but a profound quote just the same: "Wherever you go, there you are." That's really all there is to it. You are where you are, so you can complain and be miserable about that, or make a change and choose to be happy. If you are in a situation you are not particularly content with, ask yourself, "Can I do anything about this?" If you can, do! If you can't, then let go, move on, and find your own happiness despite whatever you are working against. He then added his own thoughts, "It's always a good day, our experiences are just different every day."
    Regardless of the way you feel your life is going at the moment, take a second to smile and love it anyway.  It might sound ridiculous, but I'm extending my challenge. Instead of deciding to have a good day every day until school is over, I'm going to make every day for the rest of my life a great day. I invite you to join me in my Every Day is a Good Day project. If you so choose to participate, I'd love to hear from you if you e-mail me at AnnaRose_726@hotmail.com. Remember, every day is as good, great, and wonderful as you make it. Make it a good one and choose to be happy. You've got nothing to lose but negativity and bad days.
Always, Anna

Throwback Thursday

     If you're not on Facebook or Instagram (social networks on the internet), chances are you have no idea what "Throwback Thursday" a.k.a. "TBT" is. It's pretty self-explanatory: people post old pictures of themselves or really anything from their childhood. Usually, they are pretty good. That haircut your mom gave you in second grade--you know...the bangs? Oh, yeah. They're back. Remember when you had braces? So do all of your Facebook friends, thanks to TBT. You in your favorite overalls? PERFECT. The key to Throwback Thursay is to be able to laugh at yourself.
     Tonight, my mom pulled out some old photos for me to submit for our senior slideshow at graduation. Looking at old pictures is probably one of my favorite activities, ever. Snapshots can bring the almost forgotten memories back in a way that just talking about them can't. The pictures can send the rest of the story rushing back. Like when my sister blew out my birthday candles. Or I knocked out her tooth. In almost all of the pictures we tried to take as a family with matching sweaters--gotta love the 90s--my four-year-old fingers are always pinching my pants pockets. Suddenly, I could remember being in that moment, and I was looking up at everyone from my height of four feet tall, stomping on the fall leaves. I had been picking my nose in between shots and hiding the boogers in my pockets whenever we took pictures! (Why wasn't I just like every other kid my age, flicking them off and away instead?!) I even found these Polaroid pictures of one of my sisters riding on horses that appear to be wearing Mexican horse saddle pads. I have no recollection of this, but the randomness only magnifies the hilarity of it all.
     If you want to enjoy all the amusing, and preferably embarrassing, pictures of others, you have to be willing to pay it forward and post some of your own. You know you have some. Everyone has bubble bath pictures from when they were three years old. First-day-of-school pictures are always golden. You and your best friend from kindergarten playing dress up. That day your family tried to look all color coordinated and perfect, but you couldn't get a single good picture because you're not models in a Land's End catalog and one of the kids kept making faces. First dance in junior high--two words: hair gel. Those pictures you and your girlfriends took at 3:00 A.M. on a Saturday morning your freshman year? Yeah, you just go on and dig out those old photo albums from behind all those old coats in your closet. The "lost" pictures. Mmmhm. You'll thank me for this later when you're doubled over laughing, showing your kids, siblings, parents, or friends. Go ahead and throw it back this Thursday.
Always, Anna

P.S. Here was my most recent contribution. Beautiful family photo circa 1999. Caption was: "Throwing it back to when Karen was a serial killer." Best comment? "She'll KILL you for this!"