In elementary, one of the things I remember most, is in kindergarten we had a sticker system. At the end of everyday. If we were good we would get a sticker put on a post it note with our name on it. The first one to get to 20 stickers got to pick something from the treasure chest. I vividly remember one time I got to pick a prize, and my prize was a mask that looked like one of the headbands that the evil queen wore in Once Upon A Time, a show that my mom and I would watch every Sunday on ABC. It was my favorite show, and I make my boyfriend watch it with me now.
In middle school, I went to my best friends birthday party. Her party theme was “Masquerade Ball” and we rented dresses from the Hale Center Theatre. I remember feeling so beautiful that day the dresses even came with hoop skirts so we could live out our “princess running out of the ball” fantasies. We had photo shoots in our dresses and made Mac and cheese.
In high school, I remember the joy of making my first goal during my time with the lacrosse team. My parents had brought my dogs to the game to watch me play since it was a nice day. The second I made my first goal, my dogs started howling. It’s like they knew and were proud of me.
My favorite memory of valley is actually technically 2 memories. One of which has not happened yet, but I know it will be one of my happiest. It’s me walking the graduation stage. Knowing I worked hard for it and having one of my biggest cheerleaders in the crowd, proud of me, which leads me to my second favorite memory, which is meeting my best friend, who also happens to be my boyfriend. Throughout our relationship there have been a lot of “invisible string” moments between us that led us to start dating. We had been friends for a while before we started dating. And it wasn’t until this last fall when he let me drive his truck, and his phone auto connected to his Bluetooth and started playing a parody song. We both couldn’t help but burst out laughing. I told him he needed to send me that song, and his response was “well I’d need your number to send it to you” very smooth. Then a few weeks later our first date.
To date, my greatest accomplishment was making the decision for my mental health and coming to valley. At my old school, I deeply struggled with math and science and felt like there was no way I would graduate, let alone graduate early. When I came to valley, I had an extra class every day, from 9-3:30 I had classes and worked extra hard to be able to graduate. I breezed through both math and science, the god forsaken subjects I struggled with tremendously. Even my teachers I felt did not believe in me along with my peers. Now I can say I graduated at 16 years old.
While my plans for the future are still unsure, I do know this, I want to be able to look back and be so grateful for where I ended up. To come from nothing and to look at where I will be in 5 years and see myself with a beautiful house with a huge yard where my family and I can ride ATVs in the yard and go boating out on the lake and have family barbecue nights.
The most valuable life lesson I can think of is only take what you can handle. Don’t be afraid to say no. Protect your peace. Someone is upset that you don’t like them? They will get over it. Your boss is asking you to work extra hours but you have a test tomorrow? Tell them no, school is your priority. Some kids are making fun of you? At least you are graduating.
The Hoot 
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