Phillip+L

[|My High School Life video]

"Tell me whom you love, and I will tell you who you are."

What can I say? I do my best to live life, and I will die trying in most likelihood. When I first entered high school, to me, life had endless possibilities. I was new to life, and life was new to me. It was an exciting time. I felt bold, ready, and full of energy. It was a time for trying new things, searching for more experience, and simply making life interesting. Friendship and love took on a new meaning. It was the innocence. I remember now. The innocence and freedom of youth that made life good. New friends, new school, new life...and it was all just the beginning.

Life never goes as we expect it to. Sometimes in good ways, sometimes in bad ways, but always things happen in unexpected ways. More changes, and new beginnings, but at this point I was adaptable, flexible, and still ready to take on the world. This little time slot in my life, specifically the year 2006, will always be the light of perfection that my life is compared to. No, it was not perfect, but it might as well have been. My friends and I all got lost in life and the thrill of that summer. There isn't much I can say to do justice to the feeling of peace and joy that once was, the freedom we had. Love doth grow. But as I stated earlier, life never goes as expected.

Indeed, there is a time to love, a time to hate, a time of war, and a time of peace. Junior year was the latter ones. Life showed a new face, its darker side. The side that makes us grow hard, the side that makes us grow up. Growing up is never easy, and nor is should be. Perhaps things go wrong in life so often and so unexpectedly that we should expect it. Perhaps we should expect life to be hard, troubled, and miserable...but that takes the joy out of living, doesn't it? Pain is constant in life, but it is so that we may grow stronger. Hard times aren't the end of your life, but rather another beginning. Senior year in high school, as high as I've ever been, top of the food chain. Still young, strong, healthy, and prettier than we shall ever be. Here, I am facing yet another unexpected change in my life. Okay, so college and eventually adulthood are expected, but just the fact that I don't feel like I am ready. Perhaps we never really feel we are ready, but that life equips us to handle the challenges of life in ways we don't even realize.

Life may not go as expected, and it may be terribly painful at times, but there is always some hope to cling onto that we will one day regain the innocence we once had, the paradise lost. Tell me whom you love, and I will tell you who you are.