To Write Love On Her Arms

10. So I reflected, eyes full of unshed tears, on the people in my life. The people I love. The people who love me. I am so blessed in this life to be surrounded by such amazing love, to be a daughter, and a sister. I'm so, so blessed. To Write Love On Her Arms. I reflected about the people that I love and what it would be like without them; what I would do if they choose to quit. To quit life. To quit love.

So I wrote Love. I wrote it for my sister, for my best friend. For my girls, and my mother, & maybe one day for my daughters. I choose love.

Ready, set, go.

Emotional Masquerade

9. & suddenly it hit me: what if I don't remember? What if it goes away and I can hold onto this feeling? Will I forget? The tears fall in cascades as I try to linger just a little longer under the lights- as I try to remember this feeling; freeze the memory in my mind. This is it, I tell myself. This is really, really it. No more 'next season', no more 'next practce'. There is no more. So I sit in my car and sob and bargin with God and I know it's useless and childish but what do you do when you lose the one place you've ever felt you belonged? This can't be it. It can't be over.

Ready, set, go?

Toilet Paper Traditional

8. And I couldn't believe it. When the porch light came on, so did the one over my head. The band, my band, was TP-ing my house. While this may not sound like something that should bring any joy, it does. Because it's tradition. So my lawn is covered in toilet paper and there's a giant sign with my name on it and it's the middle of the night. But I want to cry because I can't believe it's not- that I'm a Senior. I can't believe I'm inside while they're out there instead of the other way around. I'll never TP a Senior house because by next year I'll be Alumni.

Tonight was tougher than I thought it was going to be. But it was something I've been waiting for.

Ready, set, go.

Set Seven- On the 50, Splitting the Hashes = My Life

7. Guard is nothing like life. Real life is unfair and unscripted - Alright, so guard is actually a lot like life and it's teaching me more and more everyday how to keep a cool head in situation where I would rather scream and rip someone to shreds.

It's hard to say exactly where my life seperates from color guard as a whole, seeing as how much of my time and passion it consumes. But I do love my girls more than anything- I love my family.

Ready, set, go.

[picture tomorrow]

Glorified Yarn

6. I was hardly paying much attention, my concentration on one, Kimberlee Vroman, when I turned in my order for cap and gown. I was talking, smiling, laughing at the days events as we recounted them. However, I was drawn from all thoughts of teacher slip ups and paint when I was handed my tassle.


Blue. Gold. 10. A tassle, such a simple symbol of graduation, yet today it made it so much more real- so much closer.


The countdown is on.

Ready, set, go.

Legos, Tinker Toys, & Teenage Girls- Oh, My.

5. Today, I discovered you are never too old for legos or tinker toys. As much as I have always liked to play with them, I believed I, as a 17 year old, was one of the few. In Cadet I found out in the process of making bridges and toys for children, that I am the majority - and I love it.

Ready, set, go.

I've Heard Of Burning Them But This Is Ridiculous

4. As a high school senior it takes quite a bit to surprise me. It takes even more to shock me- after fourteen years of school and counting the shock factor has nearly worn off. I did not, however, expect what is soon to be my daily routine to bare anything 'shock worthy'. That was, until, I was caught on the Grosse Ile Free Bridge and it did one thing all good bridges should never do- It moved.

It's suppose to move, mind you, but I was completely unaware of the fact until I was caught on it while it did so to make room for a rather large boat. Imagine my surprise. Lesson learned.

Ready, set, go.

Candles

3. It was in a moment of prancing down the hallway, arms outstretched for a friend, that I decided birthdays, no matter the number, should be celebrated to their fullest. Colleen Tuttle turned seventeen today. She did so as we should all hope to- flawlessly. A September baby. Like the Summer turning to Fall, she turned unto her next year. So we celebrate.

Ready, set, go.

Car Lights

2. So I sat there, mouth agape, hand frozen on the keys of my little gold car. Surely, this was karma. Karma, for what I had only, just moments ago, said to John. The routine 'go home' had been taken to the point where I was, in fact, going home- and I reminded him he wasn't.

And my little gold car, no matter how many times I turned the key refused to start. Lovely. To my rescue came one, Ashley LeClair, jumper cables in hand to make my little gold car breathe again.

On my first full day of school, I had already learned my first life lesson - Don't leave your lights on.

Ready, set, go.

Blue Pride In The Pouring Rain

1. As I dragged myself from bed on the first of many pre-dawn mornings, I could hear my parents, both the epitome of nervous wrecks, arguing over the proper way to remove window paint from my little gold car in the pouring rain.

So begins senior year.

Suddenly it's day one - again- and suddenly the last of its kind. I am a senior girl in a senior girl's t-shirt, adorned in a tiara. I realize as the pictures are snapped and the freshmen filter into the building that this will be my last run.

Follow my year of snapshots- watch my final run.

Ready, set, go.