Rites of Passage

My sister is graduating from High School in a few days. As I sat in a gymnasium with 300 other proud, bored relatives for an awards ceremony tonight, I began to remember my days in High School. I think my high school experience was not a stereotypical one. Or at least my memories of that time don't seem to ignite the same strong emotions in me as they do in my close friends and family. Most people I know look upon their high school days as either a period of great trauma and pain or as the "glory days" when they were at their peak. Why do those four years of high school inspire so many more memories and emotions than any other four years of life?It must be because high school is a period of much transition. Transition seems to inspire so much conflict and trouble. High school is our first great transition, and apparently it does not go smoothly for many people. Perhaps I don't remember high school as potently because I feel like my life is constantly in transition. In many ways I'm still in high school. I still learn something new almost every day, my future is still wide open and undetermined, and I'll soon be leaving home for new adventures. In that way I hope I never graduate.