Column: Senior Moments, "Turning the Tassel"

It’s time. The gowns are ready to be worn. The stage is ready to be walked across. The tassel is ready to be turned.

Then there is me, who is anything but ready. I’ve been preparing most of my high school career for this moment. The hours of concentration, challenge and success for a 45-minute assembly and a piece of paper. While reflecting on the good and bad times, I have to wonder, if I could do it all over again, what would I change?

Maybe I would have slept an extra couple of minutes in the morning. I would have cared less about building a résumé. I would have eaten more ice cream. I could have taken more pictures, studied harder in class and been nicer to my classmates.

Truth be told, there is a small part of me that wishes I could go back and do it all again. I wish I could be a stranger to this school I’ve come to know and love, so I could discover again what it means to me. I wish I could stop time for a minute and just be here.

The larger part of me knows, this is reality. In life, unlike a remote control, there is no pause, rewind or stop button. We start it, we work at it, we blink, and it’s over. I’ve come to know high school as a great place to be, not to stay. It’s the transition time between middle school where we learn basic skills and work-life where we apply them. We make friends. We take opportunities. For most of us, this is the first time in our life when we figure out who we were born to be.

With more thought, I’ve decided I wouldn’t do high school all over again; once was enough. Oftentimes in life, one good moment is enough for us. We get one first date with the person we’ll marry. We get one body and one face. Despite it being over a long period of time, we get one life. With our one life, we can change our mind repetitively. We can travel and see the world. We can love, whatever that means to us.

Life is made worth living because of the specific, unique moments we get. For me, this was a song that played my heart strings at the homecoming dance. It was the lantern release at 5 a.m. on the day before my senior year. It will be the walk across the stage in my cap and gown. The flowers I give my loved ones as a thank you for all of their support. I’m fortunate to have something worth missing. If I didn’t miss anything about high school, I would have missed my chance to enjoy it.

High school has been my perfect moment. Because I was there. Because I made it. Because it wasn’t promised to me, it was gifted. Through it all, I got to show everyone who I am. Isn’t this the goal of all of our lives? To show the world what it means to be the person we are, whatever stage of life it may be. We could dwell on the thing we would do differently, or we can cherish everything that we have.

There’s only one you. When you walk across the many stages of life, stride with confidence, turn the tassel and leave ready to show the world what it means to be you.

Erin Urhahn is a senior at Oak Ridge High School. She's just a girl trying to find her niche in the world.