Times are a changin’, especially as the Class of 2017 enters the final stretch of our senior year.

I remember sitting in ninth grade and talking about graduation with my friends; graduation was so far away back then. As March approaches, I realize just how close graduation is.

We can talk about graduation until we’re blue in the face, but it doesn’t change what comes next. We have to grow up, we have to get jobs; it’s the real world ahead. But that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy the last few months of high school.

“I hate school,” leaves my lips at least once every day. Senioritis is in full effect, and spring fever is getting hotter with every passing day. However, every once in a while, it’ll hit me that we leave in three months and that my friends and I are going our separate ways. We make plans now to stay in touch, and I can only hope that that remains true.

I read many odyssey.com articles where graduating students said, “Value your senior year; it’ll fly by.” I never thought it’d be this true. March already? Some days it feels like we’re still in August. As the fourth nine weeks approaches, it’s not about just surviving anymore (some days it still feels like that, though), it’s about preparing for the inevitable.

The inevitable may not be a bad thing, but it’s most definitely scary. I can cook for myself, I can wash my own laundry, I can sew up a hole in my shirt, but can I survive on my own? For now, though, I’ll push those scary thoughts to the back of my head and buckle in to ride the Senior Fourth Nine Weeks Rollercoaster.