Time flies when you're having fun

I've been thinking a lot lately about this one and to be honest it's kinda depressing me. My Aunt Ann asked me to make a video for Sunday about past fair parade floats. Well I only have pictures of two of the floats that we did. This is one of those.

It was from our Kingdom Quest VBS and it's meant to be a castle. I don't remember how many kids we had, but I remember participating in it not as a volunteer, but as a kid. That was my second Vacation Bible School at this church. I still have the music to it and listening to it now, I remember so many things about it.

I know the picture is small, but I'm on the far left. The girl next to me is Hannah who also graduated with this year. We're all wearing our Kingdom Quest shirts except for JJ in the blue (he's now the youth leader).

The more I think about this picture and look at it, the more I remember things from the past. I'll start thinking about all of us older kids leaving for college rather soon and then think how can this be happening? Weren't we just kids yesterday? How can this be happening?

I think of my friend Chris who left for college yesterday. I think of my friend Hannah who is leaving for college next Saturday. I think of my friend Becky who leaves next weekend sometime too for her second year of college. Mostly though I think of Chris, Hannah, and I because we were the start. Well, they were the start, but I came in after four years. We've finally graduated. Our generation youth group is leaving and new kids are coming up into the youth group. I saw that last year when we had a few 6th graders move into 7th grade.

I haven't started crying about this yet, but I know I will. I hate these lasts. I hate being asked if I want to do things because it will be the last thing I do with everyone before I leave for college. Guys, I'm not going very far away. You can come visit, you know that, right? As far as I'm concerned, my lasts with the youth group have been the last Wednesday in May, the Cedar Point trip, and Vacation Bible School and after VBS nights.

My summer isn't up yet, so I'm not exactly out of youth group yet. Well technically I am because that's what all the adults say. That hurts me though. I've been with this group for nine years and now I'm out. Sorry, but I'm having trouble with this changing point in my life.

I'm upset. My friends are all leaving me to go to college already. I'm stuck here until September 7th. What happened to us? When did we become adults and how do we make it stop?

I guess time really does fly when you're having fun. I have had fun all these years. I've had my rough spots, but my friends have helped me pull through. And now they're leaving me with total strangers and I'm leaving them with total strangers. We're such good friends aren't we? Haha, we're gonna make new friends this year no doubt about it. We'll be fine. And before we know it, we'll be graduating from college and then real life comes.

Still right now, I'm missing all the fun times in youth group. Tea parties in the nursery. Hanging out at Timber Town for Sunday After Church (SAC). Rocking out to awesome Christian music with some of my best friends. Mission trips and community service. Helping with VBS. Fun games at youth group. Refusing to memorize verses, but doing it anyways. Talking about parables on Wednesday nights. Having to listen to and watch two people argue about the parables on Wednesday nights. Are you ok? situations. Movie nights. Buck Buck. Twister. Apples to Apples. Underground Church where JJ always gets hurt. 30 Hour Famine.

You know I'm also finding that I'm really missing piano lessons right now. I played my final recital at the end of May. Well it may not be my final recital forever, but it was with this piano teacher. So here goes, some memories of that one.

Thursday nights. Memorizing songs. Learning songs on Youtube. Solo and Ensemble solos. Theological talks. Talks about Wednesday night youth group. Irish Jig (only my piano teacher would get that one). Piano recitals. The "ok's" before playing. I'm going to play this now, but then suddenly realize that I had something else to say. Remembering what I had forgotten to say while in the middle of a song, but not stopping the song. Talking while trying to play a song. Finger Power and it's horribleness. Learning to play by ear. Music that includes an accompaniment to play with the teacher. Asking questions about God. Not really practicing and admitting to not practicing. Practicing during the summer. Practicing on the day of the lesson. Calling my teacher old, but not as old as his wife, hahaha. Playing in church for offertory. Bike rides to piano lessons. Being the student who had stuck with this piano teacher for the longest time besides his own kids.

I think that's all I can think of at the moment of piano lessons. Maybe I'll explain the meaning of some of those things sometime. I know a lot of it might not make sense to you, but to me, they're valuable memories. I think I will be explaining these rather soon actually. Maybe in the next day or two. I like to share these memories. Who knows, I might share some of my youth group memories as well, but I also know that I've shared a lot of those already.

I'm having trouble accepting the fact that these days with youth group and piano lessons are over. I know my friend Hannah doesn't want to go to college and I somehow feel the same. I don't want things to change and I wish our friend Chris hadn't left already. I miss them both already even though Chris is the only one who has left thus far.

Time sure does fly when you're having fun. I also think time just flies by faster and faster every year. That's how I feel. I was a senior going to my first day of classes yesterday. What happened? Don't waste the time that you have with your friends in high school and in youth group. It will be over sooner than you know it. Have some fun, but realize that time does pass by a lot faster when you're having fun and not realizing that time is passing you by.