Do you ever have one of those moments where everything is perfect? It doesn’t have to be a moment where you are wearing a crown or receiving your Nobel Prize, just a moment when you are with the right people, in the right place, and nothing else matters.
For just a few seconds you can stand still and know that whatever is pending doesn’t matter. It's just the perfect moment. The tragedy of the perfect moment is that it is fleeting. There is certain sadness about this moment because you know that in all of its glory, it cannot last.
In my life I have experienced many of these moments, one of my favorite nights is one in which I spent with some dear friends almost a year ago. In one moment we were all together and singing the song American Pie (how typical) at the top of our lungs. We were laughing and everything was perfect. As our lives dissolve into new lives and we grow into new people, we hold onto these moments. When the days are long and hard and we are buried in work and homework and bills and stress, we can think of these times and know that there are people who mean the world to us and the idea that the same kind of organic happiness is out there can carry us to the brighter days. If you're lucky, you may still have these people in your lives to call on during the cloudy days.
Graduation has sent me into a state of reflection. It's hard to think that it has been 5 years since high school graduation. It has been an interesting and at times difficult ride. I wouldn't trade it for anything. It has made me a better person and I have grown to become wiser and less afraid of the world, yet I have so much more growing and exploring to do. The future is only another challenge and I hope to look it right in the face, even if I have to wear sunglasses to do so.
Emjoy a quote from one of my favorite books, it feels very poignant:
“Because I know there are people who say all these things don’t happen. And there are people who forget what it’s like to be sixteen when they turn seventeen. I know these will all be stories some day, and our pictures will become old photographs. We all become somebody’s mom or dad. But right now, these moments are not stories. This is happening. I am here, and I am looking at her. And she is so beautiful. I can see it. This one moment when you know you’re not a sad story. You are alive. And you stand up and see the lights on the buildings and everything that makes you wonder. And you’re listening to that song, and that drive with the people who you love most in this world. And in this moment, I swear, we are infinite.”
― Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower
