Hear our joyful voices ring: The last page

My matric year started during an assembly where we were voted in as executive members and it ended in a flurry of newspapers in a way out garage at 1am this morning. And through the lessons where it was just too boring to stay awake to the impromptu dance parties in our cozy exec room, I found a happiness I would not trade for the world. Finally I am at the last page of this book.

7 distinctions is what the paper says next to my name. My parents cried. My father held me and wept in joy. It hasn't hit me yet but when it does I'm sure I will cry too. My friends are all making me so so proud. Through the late nights of complaining to the early morning jokes, we stuck to it. It's at this point I realise I came out of high school with a family. It was never just school for me. 

It was a home to me. Those cool brick walls that soothed my aching wrists between rushed paragraphs in the History exam,housed us for 5years. I walked into those gates with a new, too-big blazer and walked out for the last time with tears and a blazer that had seen many days. I knew one person on my first day at school. That was it. 

Now I have countless sisters.

Thank you Northlands Girls High for being MY high school. For being the place I told everyone to send their child because it was just THAT good. For the teachers who did more than they actually needed to, who were always there to listen, laugh and give us that push we needed. For the mentorship it provided to teach us to be better leaders, better people. For the friends I've made. I found my voice while wandering those crowded hallways with my friends and I found my soul lingering in the hugs as we said good morning in Registration. Change is inevitable and it is time to say goodbye to my days there. 

I wept when we had our last official day. I cried like someone had died and I would never see them again. I wept because it felt like yesterday when I first sang our School Song in the hall. The cocoon stage was almost over at that point. 

Tomorrow we are officially moving. So it's a week of change but that's ok. The winds will blow you in many directions but I have a feeling that the roots I've laid down will remain hardy for a long time. The past five years have shaped me. I don't know what lies ahead but I will always be grateful that so far, it's been one heck of a trip. So thank you to everyone who has been part of it who reaffirmed my faith in God everyday with your kindness, lessons of humility and love that kept me motivated throughout this year.