Life-Changing

I used to wish
That I was Peter Pan

I never wanted to grow up

Drama
Guys
Sticky situations
Paying rent
Holding a job

Yuck

Sure
I wanted to be old enough
To get my license and drive a car

That's about it

I hated change
And everything
That came with it

The pain
The insecurity
The long nights

Wondering
What I'd do without
The teachers that'd
Stuck by me
That held me up

Every time
Change occured
I'd cry and be
Depressed

8th grade graduation
Was the most horrifying
Experience of my life

I didn't want to go
To high school
And leave Elfman

I was leaving Mr. H
Who had become a
Great mentor and friend

I was a mess

I knew I'd have my friends
But most of them didn't
Understand what I
Was going through

I didn't want to talk
With my mom or anyone
For that matter

I curled up inside
And cried to myself

I got to high school
It wasn't too bad
I started enjoying it
A few of my teachers
Were pretty cool

They still couldn't compare
To the two I'd left behind

For about a month
I went back to middle school
And talked with Mr. H
I could tell him everything
And then the receptionist
Told me I couldn't keep coming back

I stopped

And started reaching out
To new teachers

They didn't know me
Or what I'd been through
I didn't know them
Or what was okay to tell

Freshman year
Was a small growing experience

I made a first year teacher
Into my role model
And he made me
Into a nerd

I shared music
With my history teacher
He shared jokes
With me

The end of the year
Brought relief
I'd made it through
My first year of high school

And I was still alive

Sophomore year
That's what I just ended

There wasn't too much change
At the beginning

Of course
I had new teachers
Some didn't quite
Live up to my expectations

One was an over-achiever
I reached out to her
She became another role model

I spent time being nerdy
Enhancing my inner smartness
Spending time before and after school
With those two

I'm pretty sure
They taught me more
Than all of my other teachers
Combined

Not all school knowledge though
I learned about myself
Other people

Humanity
Compassion
Understanding
Boundaries
Self-worth

And so much more

I can't being to describe
The power teachers have
To inspire their students
To be someone who likes who they are

And once again
Change

I know that one of them is leaving
I don't know if one of them is staying

At the beginning of the year
That would've freaked me out
I would've gone into my former
Emotional
Depressive
State of being

But what they've taught me
And what I've learned by myself
Is that:

Change happens
Whether we like it or not
And it'd be a shame
To let that ruin us
To let it predetermine
Our opinions of others

Why don't we just
Embrace change
It may totally suck at first
But we'll get used to it
And hopefully
Be able to turn it into
A growing experience

For all the changes that
Have and will happen
We've grown and will grow

So
Someday
We'll be a million feet tall

Won't it be cool?