A graduation realization: growing up

I stand on the stage watching,
as the smiling faces and congratulatory cheers echo out.
Moving the tassels from right to left,
My hands shift to my lap waiting for that final line and everything flashes before me. 
The shutter of a camera and I am back at…
18. The number in which a late teen turns into a young adult. The final number in which the law has given you this meaningless label. But to you this label means everything, it means freedom, and it means happiness.
17. The year of big wins, from both individual accomplishments to big team successes. As goals shot across the field, as people ran to the finish line. We win. 
16. The sweetest of numbers for those who adore it. Or for those who were stuck inside with their families during an endless pandemic. The year of controversies to cases, with medical masks leading the stock markets. 
15. The first number that is given to you when you first walk into the doors. The one representing one’s own individuality and the five meaning those five friendships you knew were gonna change forever. 
14, 13, 12. Blurred timelines as you try everything in your power to forget those dramatic old ages of middle school. Where everyone thought they could be anything and were everything in a matter of minutes. The ages in which we needed a major reality check. 
11. We are all excited to finally become the big kids, but the anxiety fills my brain, and I have this pit in my stomach as I move to a new bigger school. 
10. Finally the double digits, the big one oh. Oh no, does that mean what I think it means. Who knew puberty could hit so early for a young girl’s life. And everyone knows mom and dad were in for one hell of a ride…
9. A year in which I just memorized the whole dance number to ‘What makes you beautiful’ by One Direction from Just dance 4.
8. The beginning of times tables and adding numbers together more than just 10. Funding even more passions than I have before.
7, 6, 5. I gear up for the first time. Crayons in one hand and pencils in the other. There’s a lot more kids here than I thought… I squeeze my mom’s hand as my heart beats faster. A woman walks up to us, and I grip harder, she calls herself Mrs. and that is the moment I know it will be okay.  
4. Fired frenzies and imaginative minds zip across the skies and in my head. I dream of flying with the fireflies, running with the cheetahs, screaming like a baboon. At this age kids wanted to be animals, and I wanted to be every single one of them. 
3 or 2. Parents will tell you these are the ages they do not miss. They will say that your terrible twos, terrible threes made them question if staying… was a mistake. Moms will say this was their birth control and Dads will say you just would not be quiet. But Grandparent’s will say that you were simply a go-getter. 
1. The people who will raise you, look and ponder. They say to themselves, this child will be strong, they will stand for everything they believe in. They will want to do everything and anything. And they will do it,  because that’s the type of person they will want to become. 
0. You are born into light and the first sound you hear is… 
The shutter of a camera
And I am back at… 
The crowd, my peers and I smile. 
My hand moves to the beat of my heart.
Waiting for the final line in his speech…
Then finally… peace.