1

Just turned eighteen, with excitement and fun wrapped around me

like the cold air of the Texas desert at night.

My last semester of high school has just started

and right away the stress of the future pulls,

like the last remnants of holidat cheer.

 

2

The air is biting, as is the constant reminder by those around me

that I have been alone for so long.

Not in numbers, only in mind.

As the holiday for romance comes and goes,

I realise that there is much I have yet to learn.

 

3

College is coming in closer and closer,

and the people I have spent years with now all make plans

to separate and leave.

Deciding on a college marks the only significant date

in another page on the calendar.

 

4

April showers come,

although not in my desert hometown.

Instead, we find ourselves showered in the notion of nostalgia,

this unseen force that causes all seniors to reflect on what was,

and what could have been.

 

5

The end of spring brings the start of an episode,

a marathon in my head that never stops

until it runs me into a hospital for five weeks.

Alone with my thoughts, 

I try to learn.

 

6

Graduation comes, and it leaves me breathless.

Friends, family, and the like gather to see me on my last day,

because this is really the last day.

My last school lunch, pep rally, and so much more.

Summer brings the end of an era.

 

7

Road trip.

Me and a friend who is more of a brother ride

until the sun is behind us.

Our last chance to get away from the world we knew.

It is now that I start to learn.

 

8

College starts with parties and girls and boys with no names,

only the memories they want kept of themselves.

Given the chance to recreate myself,

I try to get better at looking at what is in front of me in the room, 

instead of what's ahead of me in life.

 

9

September.

Bringing nothing exciting or new,

I find myself.

I did not know that I liked latin, or building things.

Now I am learning.

 

10

A halloween party is where I met them.

A group of people all as messed up as me,

all trying to learn about themselves and life

as if that was the same subject.

A halloween party is where i met her.

 

11

She is now my best friend.

She does not judge me for my past,

or for what I want my future to hold.

She cares about helping me,

and helping me learn.

 

12

As the semester ends, a relationship starts.

I am happier than I was,

smarter than ever before,

and maybe that's because of the people in my life.

That's what I've learned.