Yearbook

Recently, a handful of my friends have decided to post scans of their high school yearbook pages on Facebook.  And while I have since misplaced the yearbook from the year I graduated high school, conveniently, or otherwise, the concept of posting ones yearbook online has inspired various thoughts and ideas.

My yearbook quote was written by Richard Bach; “Don’t be dismayed by good-byes. A farewell is necessary before you can meet again. And meeting again, after moments or lifetimes, is certain for those who are friends.”

This quote, although different from those of my fellow graduating seniors, sent the tone for what I had predicted would happen once we all graduated and moved on to different places.  Some went off to college, others went directly into the work force, while a handful of others took a year off to travel and decide what college they wished to attend, or not.

I remember my graduation ceremony as if it was yesterday.  The typical archaic ceremony, which turned a simple graduation from high school into a weekend-long event.  As such, I was allowed to have a guest at my graduation.  I decided to invite Allegra, my girlfriend at the time to my graduation.  She was the one for which Chasing Cars was written.  I had also won the annual poetry contest, and as such, was required to read my winning poem, The Misunderstood Child, to the entire school during graduation,

High school was a very tumultuous time in my life, filled with good times and bad, yet at that time, regardless of the situation, the emotions behind the situations were magnified tremendously.  Be it due to lack of real life experience, or age, even the simplest of problems seemed like enormous life-changing obstacles.  In some ways, the memories and snapshots contained in my high school yearbook reflect, in some strange way the way that life goes by in stages.

In life, as in high school, friends come and go, drifting in and out of your life again, and ones best made plans seem to require adjustment and/or cancellation at a moments notice, seemingly unexpectedly.  Moreover, most of the things one worries about in high school, much as in life, never come to pass.  However, things that we never could have anticipated always seem to pop-up right out of nowhere.

I have meet up with some of my friends from my past some many years after graduation.  A handful of other friends, I hear from every now and again, while sadly, most of the other people I knew, never again.  It saddens me to think that in life, we all form bonds, some very strong by their very nature, out of necessity or sheer coincidence of being associated with one another for a time, only to have those same bonds dissolve over time.  There is nothing in this world that time will not change, despite the seemingly empty promises  and vows of unbreakable friendship we have all made to one another as children.

Colophon
The header image is my actual high school yearbook photo.

Asides
My High School English Teacher, The Lunatic Genius | Chasing Cars | The Misunderstood Child | What You Leave Behind | Time For College… What?! | Nineties Nostalgia