It’s not just the Last Day of School; it’s the last day of SLMS.
Forever.
Sure, it’s there right now, and it’ll probably still be there in 10 years.
But we won’t.
Our time is done-
It’s not our school anymore.
Whether we liked it or not,
Whether we got good grades,
Or made whatever team,
Or got whatever award,
Or even if we were involved in absolutely nothing-
Our time is done.
So, SLMS will be there in 10 years, yes.
But it’s just a building now.
To us, it’s not a home anymore.
As of 10:26 today, we no longer belonged.
We will have been replaced once school starts again next year.
Replacing US. Literally.
Essentially, we were kicked out of our home to make room for another group.
Eventually, we will be forgotten.
The building won’t remember us,
And in time, the teachers will forget.
But we NEVER will.
Why? Because our life is school.
Think of any joke you have ever heard or told. Think of any embarrassing moment. Any time you got in trouble, drooped your things, laughed, sneezed really loud, drew a great picture, or gave a hug.
Did it happen at school?
Think of any time you cried, sang a song, danced, chewed gum, gnawed your pencil, wrote on your friend’s jeans, wrote with a marker, looked out a window-
It happened at school.
Where else WOULD it happen?
We were there everyday!
Even though we loved our school, we were ungrateful.
Almost every morning-
We would complain about getting on the bus so early.
Every bus ride-
We would whine that it was too long.
And every evening-
We would bicker about how busy we were and how much homework we had.
It was always,
“He’s so mean!”
“She’s too sensitive!”
“That group is so weird!”
Why did we care?!?
Why didn’t we realize that our time was almost up?
Why didn’t we soak up a little more laughter?
We should have said nicer things,
Given more hugs,
And ate more French Fries.
We just ran out of time.
That’s just it.
Not enough time.
Not enough time to do everything we wanted to do.
And not enough time to treasure and remember
What we DID have time to do.
I’m going to miss SLMS. The building, my teachers, my friends who are moving to private high schools, my locker, the blue and green lunch trays…
But I’ll especially miss who I was at the time.
Because by the start of high school-
I’ll be different.
My personality that I had at SLMS, will be warped over the summer.
For better or worse-
We will ALL change a little.
And after that, all evidence of SLMS will be gone.
I wish I could somehow keep it.
All the memories, and stories we had.
I’d keep them in a little box under my bed.
If memories could be kept-
Just imagine!
What would they look like?
Thousands of tiny sealed envelopes, each containing a story?
Or would memories be more like grains of sugar or sand because there are so many of them?
I imagine memories as liquid-
They are easy to store, but also easy to spill or forget.
In my mind, if our memories of SLMS could be kept in a box- they would be three colors.
Some would be a deep, strong, royal blue, like the color of a Dasani water bottle cap.
Other memories would be a pleasant, swirly shade of green, like the tiles on my fireplace.
And the dull silver color of my hairbrush or a fork would add to the bright glow of the blue and green memories.
If only keeping such memories was that simple.
Simple enough to identify each one by color, and store in a box under my bed.
I don’t want to forget SLMS.
But when I’m 40, it’s just not possible to remember everything that happened to me at school,
And that makes me very sad.
I’ll never forget you, SLMS.
After all, you were my home.
iRob 