Review.

Yes, I'm busy. But this is nothing compared to this time last year. I seriously pity high school seniors, particularly those whose college application process is more about auditions than the paper application. This time last year, there was so much tension and so much stress. No idea where I would be a few months later. My senior recital looming. The monthly push to put out a newspaper. The simultaneous desire for a break and hope that high school would never end. Let's just be real here: completely uprooting and rebuilding your life as a freshman is hard, but it's so much more draining to know that everything you do, you could be doing for the last time, so it has to count, and it has to be perfect.

All of this is why, even though I have zillions of things to do this week, I consider this to a time of relief. I know where I'll be for the next few years. I know my major with relative certainty. I don't have to worry about a senior recital in March. And I don't have to part with a whole hunk of my life in May. For these reasons, I have whole bunches of sympathy for current high school seniors. But also envy. Their whole year is so charged with energy and excitement. Anything is possible. And though they'll have good-byes to say come June 1, they also will have developed immense pride in their school and will feel an extraordinary sense of accomplishment. Props to you, seniors, for getting through it all.