About two weeks ago, my mother officially moved into her new home. Although it’s a tad bit farther than is convenient for me, this quaint log cabin in the middle of nowhere feels more like home than our previous house ever did. While this aspect is comforting, throughout the buying process, the long distance to school was often justified with “Well you’ll be out of the house in a year and a half plus,” or “You’re only here half the time, so it won’t be a problem for much longer.”

A year and a half left.

It’s not a ground-breaking realization if I’m being honest. Most of the time I’m counting down the days until I get to leave Grand Rapids and venture out into the real world. Yet for some reason, realizing I have a mere year and a half left hit me harder this time.

Realizing that I have to start taking real-deal standardized tests scares me. Realizing that I need to start planning college tours scares me. Realizing that in a year I’ll be choosing where I become an adult scares me.

But it’s supposed to scare me.

It’s a wake-up call. There’s only so much time before I am forced into adulthood. I have to be aware of the sand trickling to the bottom of the hourglass, but I can’t forget that the sand also represents how much longer I have to be a high-schooler.

I need to cherish the football games, the odd quirks of public school, the unity of a class right before the hardest test of the year, the ability to enjoy doing nothing with my friends after a notably hard week, and all of the other things that make high school worth all the work.

Life is moving too quickly. Again, it’s not a new realization, but it is important nonetheless. Just because things are moving so quickly doesn’t mean I need to only focus on the future; I need to take the time to live in the moment and to enjoy the things happening right in front of my face.

I need to keep my head on straight and my eyes on the prize. So much can change in so little time, and who’s to say when the next time I stumble upon a life-changing moment will be.

Cherishing the now, planning for the future. It’s easier said than done.