tripping into the real world :)

I’m so sorry I haven’t written in awhile.  Life got really busy with graduation and finals.  But I want to tell you about my graduation from high school.  It is kind of a funny story, but if you know me at all you wont be surprised.  I did what every person fears of doing when they have to walk in front of a bunch of people.  That is right.  I fell.  Oh yes, tripped as I was getting my diploma in front of almost all of the town of Ramona.   (And I’m not even being sarcastic,  the stands were packed with people.  Just about our whole town. )  And as I’m falling down the stage, diploma in hand the thought that came to my mind was…”Well of course you tripped.  You couldn’t have ended high school with just a little bit of dignity and grace?”  I was mad at my self.  I couldn’t get through the ceremony without embarrassing myself?  But as our class president was giving a speech of how we are now going to walk  off this field and into the “Real World” and everything is changing, I began to wonder…” what is the real world?”  what is this place that everybody congratulates us on getting to?  How is it different than the world I am living in now?  Clearly it can’t be that much different because I’m entering the “real world” with the same ungraceful klutzy way I was before.

Now don’t think that I am stupid, I know we are all headed off into college, getting jobs, and growing up.  But have we changed just by moving a tassel from one side of our hat to the other?  It seems to me that the world that I live in is just about the same as the one I was in last week.  I guess my point is that just because we graduated doesn’t mean that we are automatically grown up and mature.  So my advice?  I guess is to not, just because now your in college, think you know everything.  I have realized that my parents are still and will always be right.  And that we still do stupid things just like we did in high school.  The drama hasn’t gone away, and neither has the need to make it.  Just because were are out of high school doesn’t mean that we are really that much different.  More is expected of us and we do have more responsibilities.  But most things are the same.  But just because we are now in the real world doesn’t mean much has changed.  We still make mistakes and do stupid things.  But that really is okay, its how we learn.  But instead of making the same mistakes over and over, try and learn from them.  Because I think that’s what the real world really is all about.  Being more responsible and having to learn.  Nobody is there to come save us anymore.  We have to do that ourselves now.  That’s what the real world is.  More responsibility for the mistakes that we keep making.  So I guess I’m saying learn from your mistakes.  Don’t do them again.  And when you fall in life, hold your head up high and get back up.  J