The End of an Era

With the help of modern technology, this will post as the event is actually happening rather than in retrospect or predicting the future...

Right about now, the coliseum is filled with hundreds of people, their chatter sounding more like a monotonous buzz than actual dialogue. The attendants are weaving their way in and out of the more or less neatly arranged rows of anticipating students. I'm standing here, between Lindsay Hazel and Amber Hasty, a spot I've gotten used to over the past four years. And, as I think about it, this will be the first time in 17 years I'll be recognized before an Amber. Poetic justice in its own twisted way.

The buzzing subsides as the band begins to play pomp and circumstance. In that moment, 300 plus students all go silent, their hearts nearly beating to identical rhythms. Du duh. Du duh. "Okay, everyone," one of the teachers who was unfortunate enough to work the holding cell this afternoon says. "Remember, smile." In unison, the class of 2008 exhales. With the pride of his class with him and the actual class behind him, Caleb Abshire steps forward into the coliseum.Du duh. Du duh. Hundreds of flashes go off, documenting this momentous occasion. People cheer, air horns are sounded and even--yes--a cow bell or two ring. Cheers echo throughout the hollowed dome and last until John-Paul Zimmerman takes his seat.

All too soon it ended with the principal making one final announcement. "Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you..." Du duh. Du duh. "The class of two thousand..." Du duh. Du duh. "..and eight!!" The coliseum explodes with laughter and good cheer. Hats fly into the air as people begin to flood he floor. It's over. We've made it.

.:~o*'Kaylyn'*o~:.