lizzy: dallas, texas
I am one of those people who gets super excited for every single season. At the start of each one, I always end up exclaiming, "I LOVE [insert season] SO MUCH! IT IS MY FAVORITE TIME OF YEAR!" Invariably, this results in my family and friends laughing at me and reminding me that I say that like clockwork every three months. But you know what? I'm ok with it. Why shouldn't I be excited? It's another season that I get to experience. Another season of pumpkin flavored things, Christmas cookies and happy carols, Valentine's colored m&m's (THE BEST), the smell of dirt on your hands in the spring and chlorine in your hair in the summer, fireworks, cool nights with s'mores by the fire, long warm days where the sun never goes to bed right up there with the short cold days made for coming home to snuggle on the couch. I love ALL of these things and I am always so ready to welcome them. That's what life is for: welcoming whatever is coming your way because here's the truth... it's coming whether you like it or not.
Lizzy is welcoming a new season that might even top the season of Reese's peanut butter eggs - and that is a tough one to beat. Lizzy is welcoming the season of her senior year in high school. The season of emerging adulthood and the time to embrace being home for one more year before heading out on a new adventure. The entire world is laid at her feet and it is hers for the taking, with all the comfort of knowing she will still be able to go home for a long weekend or break. I remember this time of life with so much fondness. You've accomplished a good deal, but there is still so much to reach for. You can be anything you want to work to be. You have every opportunity to choose where your life will go. How sweet it is to be a senior in high school, when the entire world is yours.
Congratulations, Lizzy. Enjoy this wonderful time of life and savor every time you come home to a meal with your parents or they make you pose for just one more picture before prom. You've got so much in front of you and I hope your life is every bit as beautiful as you are.
