It was my 22nd birthday. And like every other birthday I can remember, it involved a mini existential crisis about how the passage of time is inevitable and what it means to get older. You know, the normal stuff. This year, though, it was a little different because of graduation.
"But Emily," you might be saying, "you're a junior. You don't graduate until next year."
First of all, I don't know why you're talking at your computer screen. I can't hear you and you're reading these words a while after I wrote them.
Second, I'm not graduating this year, but if I hadn't taken a gap year before college, I would be. Which means that all of the friends who were in my grade through high school, most of my friends who are closest to me in age, they're graduating. And planning life as a "real adult" (whatever that means).
I'm not doing that yet. I've still got more school left to do before I need to worry about starting grad school or whatever it is I'll do first. But I'm also hearing about my friends' experiences with saying goodbye to the life they've built at university and trying to find a place for themselves in the larger world.
And I'm really glad I took a year off because that sounds terrifying. My 23rd year (which, for those of you about to correct me at home, has started now because you're not born on your "1st birthday") will be different from most of my friends' because I'll still be an undergraduate student. I've taken life at a slightly different pace.
This isn't one of those essays telling you to make sure that your aunt's best friend's kid takes a gap year or whatever. But there's something liberating about deciding not to go straight into tackling the next task without taking some time to plan out what you're going to do when you start it.
To all my friends (and any enemies or strangers) who are graduating this month, congratulations on all you've achieved! You're going to go on to great things whenever you're ready to get started.
To all of the High School Class of 2013 who isn't finished with college yet, we'll get there when we get there. And that's awesome.
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