Remember when our parents told us not to grow up too fast?

When “stupid” and “shut up” were cuss words,

when a boy being mean to you meant he liked you

when being tripled-dog-dared to give someone a hug gave you butterflies

when you thought you loved all your crushes 

when your greatest fear was getting the “cheese touch”

when all the kids went back inside when it got dark out

when someone said “poop” and everyone around giggled

when sleep was your worst enemy

when your biggest idol was your teacher

when a gold star was the only validation you needed

when a bandaid could fix all your problems?

Remember when you couldn’t wait to just be ten, then thirteen, then sixteen?

When getting in an accident meant scraping your knee, not the bumper of your car

when parties only happened for someone’s birthday 

when “FOMO” was just a meaningless term that rhymed with slow mo

when thinking of the future brought hope, not anxiety 

when you said you had a date, play was always in front of it

Remember when we dreamed freshman year of finally becoming a senior?

Remember how everyone said those four years would fly by?

Remember when your last first day was here before you could tell them they were wrong?

Inspired by VSCO post, “Soda Becomes Vodka” 

Photo Credit: matherhospital.org

Written by

Laine Hourigan

Laine Hourigan, junior, has always found a love for both reading and writing. She loves semi-autobiographical literature as it shows readers the life of the author while still allowing for imagination to run its own course. Her favorite book is Pay It Forward written by Catherine Ryan Hyde. Laine is involved in both swimming and water polo. In her free time, she manages to find herself back in the water as she enjoys going to the beach and being around family and friends. Laine is very excited to develop her writing skills in order to use them in her future career.