My Goodbye to high school

This was my final essay that I wrote for Mr. Hashemian’s English class. I wanted to share it with all of you because if I had to sum up and say goodbye to high school in under 1000 words, this is exactely what I would say:

     I love music. Ask anyone who knows me, I sing about washing the dishes and if I make dinner it involves blasting music, wooden spoon karaoke, and dangerous dance moves. Music is at the heart of who I am.  Since I was a little kid I was always fascinated by anything musical. Especially the way a conductor masterfully conducted the orchestra at a play. I loved watching his arms fly about as he conveyed to the wind section that they needed to play louder or tell the strings section that a crescendo was coming. That symphony of all those different instruments playing in harmony would leave me with goose bumps.

     One of the many beauties of music is that it clashes. The notes of the harmony and the melody are clashing and it sounds off. Even the most untrained musical ear can hear that clashing chord, but then it resolves and carries off into a beautiful symphony once again.  The melody of a song can be a lot like a family. Each is individual in its own sound, but working all together it can be a masterpiece. I know that sounds corny, but it’s true. If you were to close your eyes and listen to a symphony written by a great composer you could almost ‘feel’ the family aspect of it. The soft notes that are sweet to listen to are the words of comfort that are whispered to a sleeping child, the loud crescendos are the screaming matches that ensue between siblings. The romantic notes represent the love that is still alive between mom and dad. No family is perfect and neither is any melody. The notes clash and I can guarantee that every family does as well. No one agrees with anyone 100% of time. Therefore, the clashing notes represent the arguments that everyone has. The resolution of that clash however makes for some of the most epic moments in a symphony. That is what keeps a family together and functioning as well. The resolution of those arguments is what makes the family as a unit stronger and allows the whole thing to come together and be beautiful once again.

Music is also very inclusive. The beginning of a song could start as a guitar solo and lead into the inclusion of the drums and the bass and the piano. You don’t have to change the entire song to let in another section. When someone in your family gets a boyfriend or a girlfriend and even gets married you don’t have to change the whole structure of the symphony, the two symphonies live in harmony, creating an even larger and more beautiful masterpiece.

     One of my favorite things to do while listening to music is to listen closely and pick out the harmony. I love to sing the different notes and listen to how it enhances the sound of the music and fills it out as a whole. The same goes for a family, again. Each personality represented in the unit as a whole enhances it in some way. If the musical producer just decided to drop even one note from the harmony the people who were working closely on the song would notice that something was missing. An outsider coming to enjoy the show wouldn’t notice, but those in the show would notice and question what was going on. A family is so tightly knit that they would notice if someone was missing from their group. You would notice the missing personality and would do your best to find it. When a child goes off to college, the family as a whole has to learn how to adjust to the new melody and it can take a little while, and it will probably sound a little off. An outsider to your family might not notice, but the family unit as a whole would.

     Another thing about music that I really love is that each section has a solo moment. You know that part of a song when the music fades away and you just hear the lead voice, or when the drums pump up the beat and you can feel them pounding to your very core. It’s a really cool moment for that solo section. I’m graduating in exactly 17 days. My solo moment is coming. That moment when my family backs away and lets me have my moment. That’s what is so awesome about my family. They are letting me be the focus of attention for the next few weeks. As school winds down and I face the final moments as a part of this symphony, they let me shine.

         A really crucial part of a symphony is the ending. The last few notes are the ones that people will remember. At the end of a long song, no one will remember the clashes but they will remember the tangible silence at the end when the last sounds of the song ring in the air and fade away. They will remember the sweet notes that made them smile or the notes that left them in awe. That is my mission as I leave high school and branch away from my family. I want people to see my face in the yearbook and think about how Becky lived every day striving to please God in all that she did. I want be remembered as the shoulder that you could cry on, the loyal friend. I want others to see the love of Christ in me. This was and is my mission and will continue to be as I branch off into my own clashing symphony.