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23

“Four months until spring break.” The text flashes across my screen as a reminder of how time flies. It soars past each of us like a bird. Slowly ticking away, second by second, the minute, the hour. Time, my own worst enemy. Four months ago, I dreamt of the things that graduation brought. Moving out, basketball, college, a found family of my own. But, I forgot about the time that I was living in.

The present is a gift. The same gift that I left under Christmas time, nameless. The gift that you return to the store because you look over its immediate value to you. The present only lasts for a certain amount of time. Time is seen as a concept, but it is the concept that you allow it to be. At this point in time, I pass over my best friend's smile, thinking about what’s for lunch, missing the punchline of the bad joke, and thinking about who my prom date is going to be. I miss the fifty-five minute lunch of freshman year. I miss powderpuff, being a part of such a beautiful and amusing tradition. Most importantly, I miss the present. I miss the things that happen around me as time skips by, like kids playing hopscotch on a warm summer day.

As time passes I think about how to hold onto moments forever, so I take videos and pictures of the moments instead of living in them. Time, there isn’t enough of it. Graduation is in five months. The present is right here. The present is what we forget. The gift of time that we take for granted, returning it to the store. When in reality, there is so much going on and not enough time. The future will have its time but now, is the present. Use time as a gift, soaking it up for what it is and the beauty it holds. Four months until spring break. It can wait another day.