Senior Moments: Wear the shoes

At the start of my senior year, I was sitting across from my friend Lydia.We were eating at a Mexican restaurant when she presented a tattered brown shoe box before me. Gifting it to me, she commanded me not to open it until we finished our food. After a while of conversing, I was ready to open the box. I didn’t know it then, but I was holding one of the best gifts I’ve ever received.

Trying to predict what was below the hinged lid, I shook the box up against my ear. I heard nothing rattling inside. I eliminated the possibility of shoes being in the box after a light toss. Once I opened the lid, to my surprise, I saw bundles of white tissue paper. Confused, I threw it out of the box looking for the “real” gift. Under all of this fluff was a note that read, “You already have the shoes; now you have to wear them.”

Flipping the note over, she went on to say on the note all of the favorable qualities I have and how I should show them to the world. Most importantly, she wrote if I am a writer, I should write. She reassured me I don’t have to try to be something I already am. I don’t have to look for something I already have. This was the first time I was given a gift I already possessed.

When I think about my past 18 years of life, I know I have more than I asked for. I think about all of the courses I’ve taken, all of the attempts I’ve made on the ACT and all of the memories I have with my classmates. Of all the things I’ve learned, encountered and challenged, I know I’ve got something irreplaceable. I have a plethora of gifts in my life. I have a family that supports me. I have friends, community and abilities. Best of all, I get to choose: What will I do with them?

With the semester coming to an end and graduation within the next six months, I realize it’s time to wear the shoes. It’s time to take a leap of faith, to start walking in an unknown direction. It’s time to be the friend, sister, daughter and person the people I love have allowed me to be. It’s time to show the world the real me under all the fluff. This is how I write my story.

With Christmas right around the corner, it’s time for you to look at the gifts under the tree, shake them against your ears like a child and throw the tissue paper in the air like confetti. The real gift this year won’t be in sparkly wrapping paper with a bow on top. You are the gift. The best gifts aren’t the things you get, but instead, the gifts you already have. What will you do? Who will you be? When you find the shoes you’re meant to wear, will you have the courage to wear them?

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