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Graduation day.
I feel like I’ve waited my whole life for this moment. And yet It doesn’t feel real.
I can’t imagine my life without these people by my side.
This very well may be the last time all of my friends are together.
I’ve visited all of my previous schools, even the one I spent only 6 months in during kindergarten.
I walked the halls of a school that had my terrible memories etched on the walls.
A lot of my old teachers are gone, and without a proper goodbye.
I traced over the class room numbers as I walked by, my shoes echoing through the empty halls.
And then on to the next school.
My elementary school had been long since shut down. After I left, it got closed because of how old it was. However, it wasn’t the only elementary school I lived in.
“I like your dress, miss! Red is my favorite color!” I peered down to see a small friend, with a little red tie on top of his crinkled button up.
There was a stain on the sleeve and on the pocket, and his fingertips were tainted blue. His knees flashed pink under colorful bandages and khaki shorts.
“Thank you, it’s a special dress! I got it because I finished school!” I smiled down at him, moving to sit on the back of my lower legs.
“Woah, you must be pretty old.” He looked around, probably for his mom
“I’m about 10 years older than you, so I guess so!” He sat down on the ground, patting the polished tile next to him.
I adjusted my gown and sat fully on the floor, my legs laying in front of me.
“I start school in this many months!” He showed me his hands, with 3 fingers on each.
“That’s amazing! You’re going to do great!” The corners of my mouth curled upwards.
“I’m scared, the school is gi-mung-guios, I’m gonna get lost!” He shook his hands out.
“Maybe, but everyone gets lost on their first day. I got lost on mine!”
“You? But your a big kid! Big kids don’t get lost!”
“Sure they do, I get lost all the time!”
“Woah.”
“Woah?”
“Woah.”
I tapped the toes of my heels together, my little friend mimicking my motion. His mother had given me a firm look over before returning to her conversation with the other adults, side eyeing me every couple of minutes.
“You know, there’s something cool about the two of us growing up.”
“Huh?”
“Yeah. We’re assigned a number when we first go to school, and we keep it with us until we leave school forever, and then it gets given to someone else!”
“That’s a lot of words!”
“I guess so! Did you understand what I was trying to say?”
“A little bit. I’m not good with words.” A moment passed between us.
“Do you want to meet my friend Oli? He’s from a country called Iowa! That’s really far away!”
“I don’t think Iowa is a country-“
“He told me it was! He’s over there, we can go ask him!”
“Oh- ok, fine.”
We both moved to get up, and I offered my little friend a hand after stabilizing myself. He darted into a crowd full of brand new students, and I couldn’t help the water that pooled in my eyes.
Oh to be little again.