The saddest thing about growing up is the inevitable distances that slowly, surely, methodically, and daily creep into our lives. High school graduation marks a departure of joy and uncertainty, especially for those that move away. The sadness of leaving is there, but it’s muted by the expectant anxiety of new places, new people, and new experiences. You don’t realize how much you miss the people you grew up with until much later in life, and by that time, everyone has kids, or a job, or anything else that takes the place of the innocence and time-lessness of being a kid.

Leaving college is better, but worse. Some people remain in town. Others hang around for a few years until they find their calling. The sorrow of absence is dulled by the slow trickle of the friends still close by…until the day when the trickle stops, because no one’s left to leave. You’re the one left behind, only it’s not the rapture, it’s just growing up.

Sure, you keep in touch – there’s email, myspace, facebook, IM, cellphones – I’ve even heard of these things called letters. But it’s not the same. It can never be the same.

I wish I could go back and tell myself to enjoy that time more, to fully realize how much I took these people for granted, to tell myself that someday, despite all the teacher’s warnings, I would miss those days…

The saddest thing about growing up is realizing how far you’ve come, how far you still have to go, and whether or not the distance from who you were to who you are is impossible to retrace.