#14 Gotten Closer to My Classmates

At my school, retreats are a yearly staple. It marks a time once a year when we are able to come together as a class and just spend the day(s) together doing different things that change with the years. Seventh grade was about getting to know one another, eighth grade about learning about the issues that we all face, ninth grade about starting to figure out who we are, tenth grade about coming together to work for the community, and eleventh grade about getting to know one another once again. While the retreats changed every year (at the great hands of those in the Call to Ministry classes), one thing was always the same. We came together. And senior year was no exception. The entire theme of the retreat was community - learning to come together as a united senior class before the end of our high school journey. I've always enjoyed retreats, but this one struck me more than the others. We laughed together, cried together, played together, took chances together, sat under the stars together, apologized together, ate together, did everything together. To me it was one of the most beautiful things in the world. I can say with the utmost certainty that the three days spent at retreat last weekend were one of the best times I've had with my class. I can say with the utmost certainty that I've never felt closer to them. I can say with the utmost certainty that I wish I'd gotten closer to them all sooner. Being with them all made me realize how much I love them. I honestly don't know who I would be without them, and that's something that I wish they'd known sooner. When I say that I should've gotten closer to my classmates, I mean that I should've gotten closer to them earlier. They really are some of the most wonderful people I know, and I should've taken the time to know more of them. I think sometimes we are too quick to judge and we dismiss other people and in the end it hurts us. I know I was wrong about a lot of the people I see every day. Senior retreat taught me that it's never too late to get rid of those misjudgments and get to know the real person behind them. It's never too late to make a new friend - even if you are going to graduate in a few short months. Senior retreat was such an amazing experience for me because I was able to be with my classmates who I've come to love and appreciate so much over the years. Further than that, they helped me check off things from my high school bucket list. We apologized, we played around on jungle gyms and ran around looking for glow sticks like kids, we took chances and jumped off of ledges (harnessed, of course), and most importantly, we were together, and that was far more than I could've asked for.