Have you ever looked at the calendar after a while and thought it was the wrong date? It seems to happen to me every summer before school starts. Just five days before the first day of school, I looked at my calendar and expected to have two weeks of summer left, at the very least.

So you can imagine my surprise when there were just days left of summer, and I hadn’t even gotten a pair of jeans yet. It seems like every summer, starting the last day of school, I’d count down the days until I move on to the next grade, but this year I paid no attention to the calendar; time just seemed to fly by when I wasn’t looking.

Walking into middle school as a sixth grader, I felt so new and so small compared to everyone else. It felt as if I moved to a foreign country or something; everyone knew where everything and who everyone one was but me. And, of course, there’s the exception of the other sixth graders.

But walking into school on the first day as an eighth grader was great! I knew the whole school and where all my classes were, and I knew what to do. Instead of asking my eighth grade friends where my classes were, I was the eighth grader showing my sixth grade friends where their classes were.

Sure, having to walk them to all their classes was sort of an albatross around my neck, but I knew it was hard finding my classes when no one could walk me, so I know it’ll be much easier for them if I help, even if it means being late to class. I didn’t feel new, and as an eighth grader, I felt more important.

But really, eighth grade seems like way less of a big deal than sixth grade. Even my backpack seems about a million times lighter than the last two years of middle school. I don’t know what it is; maybe it’s just that I’m so used to the school now. But of course, next year I’ll be new all over again.

But this is my last year of things not being too serious, with high school next year and everything. High school is definitely a big deal, like, now I think middle school is hard, but I’m sure once I’m in ninth grade and I look back at eighth, I’ll think middle school was the easiest thing on earth.

I think I’ve made too big of a deal when it came to school. Of course, high school would be something to make a big deal out of, since my life kind of depends on how well I do. But with elementary and middle school, I thought of it as a way crazier thing than it really is.

I mean, no matter how great the class is, there’s always gonna be some bumps down the road. Or, no matter how terrible the class, there’s always gonna be some hilarious memory you laugh about years later. Like my choir class last year, it was fun, of course.

But a few times in the year we had tests or had to sing a song we didn’t like. Or how in math class, it was hard for me, and I never sat next to my friends, but there were still loads of funny jokes that I look back at and smile. In one class last year, for the first month or two of the school year, I sat next to none of my friends, and I couldn’t say it was my favorite class at the time, but then I got switched to a table with my friends, who I sat next to for the rest of the year, and I came to absolutely love the teacher, and it was my favorite part of the day, and walking into that class immediately put me in a good mood.

I have to remember, things do change. By the second or third month of school, everyone will know their routine in school, and they’ll get to know the teacher and class. Instead of walking into class not knowing what to do or where to sit, you’ll know the expectations and the people and you’ll sit right down and get to work. No one should worry about their schedules; it’ll get better. Sure, it’ll take some time to get used to sleeping according to your schedule, but everyone gets used to it.

Looking towards the future, it looks like summer’s so far away, but once summer returns and you look back at September, it’ll feel like such a short time ago. School is always going to be a part of life, so it’s best we get used to it, right?