Yearbook

It was just recently that our yearbook was released. After one and a half years, it finally materialized. But taking into consideration the number of graduates, I guess that span of time was just enough. Mind you, our yearbook has two volumes – the first time for our school. And of course, the yearbook’s staff got lives as well. The book is not the only thing on which they have to dedicate their selves to.

After many months of waiting, I finally got hold of it. It was all black with the school logo and the yearbook’s name on the front. The layout was good; clean, creative and stylish. The yearbook comes with a box to make the two volumes handy. But still eight kilos is a lot of weight.

But come to think of it, I wasn’t actually ‘waiting’. There were more important things in life to be bothered about than to wait for a book that summarized our college lives. The latter was placed in the farthest recesses of my brain. I was concerned with more important things. Like what, you might ask? Well, to start with there’s the uncertainties of what the future brings. Months back, I was pondering about my future and how it can be so vague. I was worried that maybe my dreams are light years away and my future was as dark as void.

How can we be so prepared for the future? What are the things that should be done so that we will have a life that we want? If only we were brought into this world with a user’s manual then life could have been so easy. We know what to do and how to do it – you just have to follow the step-by-step procedure.

It was also then that a realization hit me. With the uncertainties of life comes the beauty of it. What thrill can life still offer us if we know where it’s heading? What enjoyment can life still give us if we know the next chapter? What spontaneity can life still bring if we already know the next step?

It is better not to know the future so that we can cherish the present. An analogy would explain it best. Sometimes, when I am watching Filipino flicks, though I know that it’s going to be a happy ending, I tend to act blind and just follow the lead of the story and enjoy each scene. Not knowing what the ending is makes you focus in the current scene, digest it and enjoy it more. Let’s just live in the present and let life take its course.

When I started leafing through our yearbook and turned the page where my profile was, it dawned on me that my school years are totally over. You might think that it might be too late for me to feel such and that the more perfect time for which is during our Graduation. But for me, Graduation should be a happy moment – that at last, after how many years of studying, I am now marching through another phase in my life. Graduations bring about a feeling of relief and success that all of the hardwork paid off. But now I was more in a nostalgic mood – that as if I entered college just yesterday. Time really flies so fast. So you really need to cherish each moment of your life. Savor the learnings and the experiences – may it be good or bad.

It took me several hours to finish flipping through the pages and finally got to the last leaf. There were many pages in this book. And there were also many faces, experiences and hard-earned lessons in those four years. This may be the last page of our yearbook, but my life still continues on…beyond school and beyond this yearbook…