Right now, with about two and a half hours until the start of our graduation ceremony, it occurs to me that all along, for the last 13 years, this is the day I've been dreading. Unlike most graduates, I never saw the happiness in Graduation. It meant we leave. Yes, we get to go on to bigger and better things, and don't get me wrong: I'm excited for that too, but I leave so much behind. This past year has, without a doubt, been the absolute best year of life. I found myself in a position I was happy with. School didn't seem like work anymore because I loved what I was doing. Isn't that what they say? That work doesn't seem like work if you love what you're doing. Being the president and drum major of the Seymour High School Band was a TON of work...more than I think anyone could have possibly imagined, but I loved what I did. I would walk into band everyday with a smile on my face, and if I didn't, it wouldn't take long for one to appear. The band says they are extremely proud of everything that I have accomplished and they thank me for everything I have done, but honestly, they have made me who I am today, and I am the one who should be doing the thanking. I would not be Lizzie Tesch without them. I wouldn't be ready to go onto my own Adventure in the great wide world of Disney. It just wouldn't happen. Not to say that the rest of the wonderful people who surround me haven't made an impact as well...they have, but it's the band that gave me opportunities and responsibilities and made it possible for me to learn. I didn't think I'd like being Drum Major, but now I can't even imagine what my life will be like without it. I wouldn't of had that if it weren't for the band, and most certainly I wouldn't be going into music next year when I head to college.
As I said in my memoir post, If my life was a movie, I would be standing in that band room slowly turning while the world flew by around me. That's how it feels right now. It feels like the past 13 years have flown by. It's like it was just the other day when my kindergarten class would have nap time, or how in 1st grade we would watch the show "Oswald", which was about an octopus I think, during snack time. Or what about recess, or the end of third grade when I took pictures with all my friends. There was middle school, with the hours spent on projects and studying for tests. And in high school, there were the insane projects, one after another, some by myself, some as a group, but each one a masterpiece in it's own way. And then there was senior year, the beginning of the end, and how every single day I would think about June 2nd, Graduation, and how much I wanted to avoid it because I wasn't ready to leave. I'm still not ready to leave.
But most importantly, it feels like just the other day I played oboe for the first time, or that first time I played in the high school band. And now, here I am, about to play with that group, all of us together, for the last time. I am not ready to leave, but I am not afraid of the future either. It looms, like, as I said in my introduction for Brave at our final concert, like a big and ferocious bear. But if we pursue, everything will work out alright, and we will become everything we want to be.
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Graduation is over now, but I think my only real comments on it are this:
I feel much better now that it's over. I honestly don't feel any different, other than the fact that my friends all still go to school while I stay at home...well, until I go in to do some work. Then I just get a visitors pass. That is weird though.
I am incredibly proud of my best friend, Megan, for her speech, but that will be tomorrow's post.
There is a lot of picture taking.
My solo went great, and the band played really well.
Other than that, I can't say that I feel any different or that anything is different. Time is still going too fast, but at the same time, for the moment it's seemed to slow down, although I have to say that today has gone by pretty quickly. I still have a lot of work I want to get done for band, but I enjoy that job, and if there's anything I can do to help, I'm going to do it. =)
Here's today's Disney History: 2011: Disneyland Resort celebrates the opening of The Little Mermaid - Ariel's Undersea Adventure with a special ceremony at Disney California Adventure park. Jodi Benson, the original voice of Ariel, performs "Part of Your World," one of the memorable songs from the film's Academy Award-winning score. The attraction opens to the general public June 3.
Have a magical day!
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