In the words of Macklemore’s song Good Old Days, “I would lay in my bed and dream about what I’d become. Couldn’t wait to get older, couldn’t wait to be something. Now I’m here, wishing I was still young.”

Senior Year. The year that each and every one of us looks forward to for years. The year that is meant to be a celebration of our 13 years of hard work; a goodbye to life as we know it. This senior year was meant to not only be my year but all of my fellow classmates last year, last time to look back at the Good Old Days. Now, as we all exit this chapter of our lives, it feels incomplete. Where were the last memories, the last cries, the last goodbyes?

“I wish somebody would have told me that someday these would be the good old days.”

Class of 2020, we didn’t receive the same special “Lasts” as each class before us. We didn’t feel the accomplishment, the “finally” of getting through the struggles of high school. Our last days of everything we’ve ever known, of our childhood, have been taken away. We didn’t know that we had walked the halls of our school with our friends for the last time. We didn’t know that each interaction in each class would be our last. I wish I could have known; I would have appreciated every moment so much more. I would have made the most out of my last moments with my fellow classmates. If only I knew.

“All the love you won’t forget, and all these reckless nights you won’t regret.”

We were supposed to be able to have those last few memories with those we love that we would remember and cherish forever. We were supposed to be allowed to have our last few moments of teenage recklessness before we dove into the beginning of adulthood. Now, as we leave everything that we’ve all ever known and go on our different paths, we won’t have our final memories and moments of our childhood.

“Someday soon your whole life is going to change; you’ll miss the magic of these good old days.”

I miss the way things used to be. I miss the ongoing conversations and endless laughs that I shared with the people that have surrounded me for years. It’s crazy to think that now, that will never again be life as it is. Now, it’s all a memory. Everything is changing; everyone is going on to their chosen paths of life. Many of these people we will never see again. All that we’ll have left is the memory of each other; remembering the magic of the good old days.

“I’ve been scared of the future, thinking about the past while missing out on now. We’ve come so far; I guess I’m proud.”

While it has been tough on us all knowing that we won’t have the same experience as each previous and future senior, we still made it. We made it through the all-night study sessions, the ridiculously early mornings, the sleep-deprived school days. We made it through the trials of adolescence, the confusing life of a teenager, and the unavoidable awkward moments that come with it. Four Years. 1,456 days. We made it. We stood by each other every step of the way, and now, as we see each other off to the next chapter of our lives, we still hold countless memories from the time we shared. We still have so much to look back on. We may have missed the final days of our year, but we will forever remember all of the time we had. Thank you, Class of 2020, for making these past four years fun to look back on. Thank you for making them into the Good Old Days.

“I wish somebody would have told me that someday these would be the good old days. All the love you won’t forget, and all these reckless nights you won’t regret. Someday soon your whole life is going to change; you’ll miss the magic of these good old days.”