Vernal's Ocean...

In my english 1010 class we were assigned to write on this topic:
A distinct moment that changed your view on a person, a situation, or your life.

So here is my paper! (It's the first draft...so I have some revisions to make, but here's what Ive got thus far.)
Here goes..

Vernal’s Ocean

 

I remember when I was about eight or nine years old, I would spend my summers playing with my friends throughout my neighborhood. We would ride bikes, build forts, catch snakes in the ditch, and create many other invented games to keep us busy. One of our favorite games to play was ‘house’. We would all fight over who got to be the mom, the dad, the baby, and the teenager. There was a sense of excitement and delight that came from acting out our not-so-far away futures.  I would often claim the ‘teenager’ role. I would pretend to have my license and go on dates, and I would spend my imaginary nights going to the high school prom, and then off to graduation. As a child, I looked forward to the days of being able to do all these things for real. And just like that, it happened.

It was my senior year of high school. I had fought for the past three years to make a name for myself, and by my senior year I had finally found my niche in school. I had made so many friends, and had formed close relationships with most of the teachers. I was known as the ‘runner girl’ as my obsession with track and cross country soon created a reputation. I was supported and watched in sports, and I knew exactly what I wanted in life.

It was the last week of school, a week that is expected to be full of emotions and anticipation for the next step in life. But to me this week felt no different than any other week. We were herded from final meetings to graduation practice, and we got to miss a lot of class, but all in all I really felt as though nothing was changing. Finally graduation day had come. The day started off with our graduation class picture, and followed with lots of festivities spent with friends and family. The actual graduation ceremony flew past with a few tears, lots of smiles, and good byes to my younger classmates. And that was that. It was over. I felt no different than I did months before this moment. I felt no glorious sentiment of success, no big moment of triumph. I felt like Harley, the runner girl of Uintah High. I felt like the red headed senior that many knew and loved. It wasn’t until the next morning that everything hit me.

We spent the entire night inside the school for one last hurrah. We had a senior stomp and dance party, and then played various games for the rest of the night. For once, in that night, there were no cliques, no groups, or no divisions among us. We were one, and we were all friends. We were 2012. It was the last time many of us would ever see each other. The next morning, at about five a.m., we all tiredly shuffled out of the high school for the last time. The sun had yet to rise, so my best friend Matthew and I decided to go to Vernal’s Ocean to watch the sunrise. Vernal’s Ocean was a favorite spot on the outskirts of town. We hopped in his green Chevy Malibu and, after a breakfast run to 7-11, made our way up the dusty path to Vernal’s Ocean.

Vernal’s Ocean sits high on a hill right outside of town, and is made out of a cement slab covered in spray paint and messages. As Matthew and I began walking to the cement pad, I was reminded of the night my best friends and I joined in on the tradition and made our mark on the cold cement. Matthew and I laid our blankets over the faded paint, and ate our breakfast consisting of our favorite snack; A&W Cream Soda and a king sized Hershey’s Cookies and Cream chocolate bar. As we laid waiting for the sun to rise, Matthew slowly drifted to sleep. I carefully got up and went to sit on the edge of the cement.

I let my legs dangle off the edge and watched a rabbit scavenge the earth and hop through the sage brush several feet below my toes.  A constant breeze ungenerously brushed across my arms and legs, but it brought with it a sort of awakening. Light beams slowly started to pop up one by one over the eastern mountains, and in that moment of solitude, everything hit me. I finally realized that from here on out, nothing would be the same. It was like this realization had been bottled up, and when I was least expecting it, the bottle exploded. I’m not sure what set it off. Maybe it was a combination of the awakening breeze, the scavenging rabbit, and Matthew’s slow breathing mixed with the silence of the morning. But in that moment, I finally felt different. During all the days leading up to graduation and the last night being a senior I never felt different. I never felt the change that was looming ahead.

Sitting at Vernal’s Ocean that quiet morning, I become conscious that I was no longer the runner girl of Uintah High school, the records I set in track will be broken, and new athletes will take my spot. I realized that the friends I spend countless nights with all through high school were now beginning a journey of their own. Sitting on the edge that morning I didn’t know that the summer ahead would be filled with my first love, and my first heart break. Sitting on the edge that morning I didn’t know that I would fail a class for the first time at college, and I didn’t know that my friends and I would slowly slip apart. I didn’t know exactly what the future held, but I knew everything would change. As the sun came up that morning, my new life began.

The end! haha:)

ps...I promise another post is coming with what has been going on here in good ol orem ;)