A graduation

by EC3, 7th
I am not an only child. I have two brothers, both tall but that’s where the similarity ends. My one sister, whom I love maybe a little bit more than the others, also happens to be the oldest.  Their ages are 17, 25, and 27, and I’m the youngest. While I have no problem with my other siblings, Christina is the best one.  My siblings are forever filling me with knowledge and information, but only one of them stands out. My sister, she is my closest sibling and I admire her. She is the one person I want to be like. We share one thing, our facility with knowledge. From classmates, I’ve been told that I would never make it to college. I’m pretty sure she went through the same thing. So when she walked the stage and received her Master’s degree something inside me sparked.
     It was crowded with people coming to see their loved ones walk the stage. We sat close to the front craning our necks every minute looking for her. People started walking in, but none of them were her. Then I saw her my sister, she was fully dressed in her black cap and gown with the gold tassel at the top, she got honors and I was so proud we had given her lots of lays with candy and money. “Christina Francis” called the man at the end of the stage she looked great walking the stage proud, confident, calm. She walked across the stage, received her master’s degree, and sat down. I was about to cheer and then the scene changed. Suddenly It was me walking in, wearing the gold tassel with the lays on my neck, I walked across the stage and received my degree. I sat in the same spot she did looking just as proud or maybe even more. Maybe it was out of shock but I couldn’t help feeling proud to see myself on stage. I know that that day was about her but I couldn't help but feel it was about me too.
     I felt tingly inside. Like someone got a bucket of butterflies and poured it in my stomach. Was I in a new world I thought, did I finally get the power of teleportation?  Why did it have to be a graduation? Then I see what I think is a bright light, wait am I in heaven? No, it was just my brother’s hand waving me back into existence. Apparently, I was daydreaming. “ Wait did I miss the graduation.” I ask worriedly. “No, you just missed the most boring 10 minutes of my life,” he replies back. Now everything looks so bright. I close my eyes and open them to trying to adjust to the lighting again. “Why do graduations take so long” I wonder out loud. “ Because they do,” my brother almost immediately replies. We sat there for what felt like 5 years (or maybe it was just me exaggerating). I love going to graduations but they are just so long. My back was even starting to hurt. Then finally the closing speech.
     When the graduation was over we all took our pictures and made our moments. “Where do you want to go eat?” my mother asked Christina. “It doesn’t matter” she replied. “I’m just hungry”. “Ok then how’s Texas Roadhouse”. My mother asked her “Actually not there, it’s too dirty.” “Well, then what about the Sizzler”. “That's good”. When we got to the Sizzler me and my brother found a table while my mother ordered with the rest of the family. We ate until we were full and then I asked: “Christina what does graduation mean to you?” She replied “The end of childhood and the beginning of life”. Graduation is a meaningful word. Graduation - a ceremony at which degrees are conferred. That's the definition of the word Graduation. But this word means more than a ceremony for me. It means changes in life, to reach a higher stage of life, the time to become a new person, a time to grow up,  and a time to follow dreams and separate responsibilities from fun. When I graduate I hope for this definition to still be involved. Being grown up doesn’t seem as fun as the idea of growing up.
     As a young adult, all I can think of is growing up and getting to do grownup things. I’ve spent my whole childhood thinking of what I could do when I finally grew up. I’ve painted this pretty little picture in my head of what it’ll be like when I eventually do grow up. When it finally comes time for the picture to be taken off the wall and put into action, I don’t think it would be nearly as fun as creating the painting. Growing old is mandatory. Growing up seems optional. Even though you're growing up, you should never stop having fun. Because eventually you will be old and you will look back and say “I wish I was a child again” to go back and do all the things that you didn’t, to start your life over again.
     Since I’m a young adult there are endless opportunities of where your life could take you. Although watching adults it seems they have one opportunity and they have one choice to take it or be a failure in life. As a young adult I can be fearless, not caring what other people think. I don’t have any responsibilities; I get to watch all the good TV shows; I can fail or mess up but it’ll be fine because we can try again. When you graduate from anything, college, a master’s program, medical school, or even law school your life then begins. You start fending for yourself in the real world. Not everything is sunshine and rainbows. Although if you get the most out of life as a child that won’t be the case for you as an adult, unless of course, it is. All I’m saying is when you're a kid be a kid because when you're an adult you won’t be able too.