My Senior year was obviously cut short due to the current pandemic we are all facing. I have gone through many different emotions since the decision to close schools was announced. I have had a lot of free time to sit at home and think about this whole situation and I have thought about it, a lot. So I’ve gathered as many emotions and thoughts that I could remember since March to explain my point of view. Let’s start from the beginning.

I still remember being in Florida for Spring Break, driving to Mellow Mushroom for lunch when we first got the news that we would be out of school for 2 additional weeks. It kind of caught me off guard because we were in Florida and I wasn’t keeping up with what schools around us were doing. I’m not going to lie to you though, I was pretty darn excited that my Spring Break was just extended 2 weeks. But even then, just a few short months ago seemed like a much simpler time. Then, after being excited about a longer break, my first bit of worry crept in. There began to be talks about my senior season of baseball being cancelled. This year was the most excited I had been for baseball ever, and it was being rumored that it was going to be taken away from me. I didn’t want to believe it.

I was holding on to the hope that this all would just blow over and we could have our season, even if it was less games than it would have been. But it didn’t blow over. Next thing I know, my baseball season is cancelled and the rest of the school year is closed as well. At first I didn’t know how to feel. Of course I was upset about the season. Again, I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t a little excited that I didn’t have to go back to school. I mean I was going to be able to do my school work at my pace and I didn’t have to wake up early in the morning anymore. I was thinking that I was going to have all this free time that I started making a list of things that I wanted to do which included becoming a famous video game streamer (which I’m still working on so go follow me on Twitch @CTG_RollsRoyce, thank you). But all this excitement started to become a feeling of sadness.

But the more I thought about it, the more real it became to me. My journey as a highschooler is over. That wasn’t the sad part though, not one bit. The sad part to me was that I had sat among my life-long friends, in the classrooms that I had grown up in for the last time, and I didn’t even know it. I didn’t have a chance to take in the final days of high school. I wasn’t able to have a proper final goodbye to the school that has meant so much to me for so many years. We are going to miss out on what were sure to be some great memories as we wrapped up our final chapter in Cannelton City Schools. The biggest take away for me though, is that I missed and still miss school. Words I never thought I would say have become true.

I wish I had known that March 12th would’ve been my last time walking in the hallway.

My last time making jokes with Mr. Parr and Mrs. Hinton.

My last time attempting to speak some sort of Spanish with Mrs. Leinenbach.

My last time eating lunch in the cafeteria with the boys and laughing at whatever we thought was funny that day.

My last time making the awful walk from Mrs. Herzog’s room all the way up to Mr. Parr’s room just to put my chromebook up.

I wish I would’ve known that March 12th was my last day, because I would have cherished it all a little bit more that day.