[June 10, 2011] The Weekly Observer, Hemingway, S.C., Matt McColl column Tweet Jun 07, 2011 (The Weekly Observer - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- It wasn't too long ago that I last graduated and I, like most other people, had no idea of what I would be doing a year, a month or even a week after graduation. It is a precious time in any person's life. I don't mean precious as in "Aww, that's precious." I mean it a little bit more like the wars that go on in fighting for precious natural resources, land and anything else worth fighting over. I'm not even joking, but each time I've graduated, the couple of weeks or months after it have been sublime. It wasn't like I figured I had accomplished some incredible feat that hadn't been done before. It wasn't like I thought I had reached the high point of my life and everything else would be downhill from here, so I had better live it up. It was the fact that I knew, that for the short time afterwards, I had no one to answer to. No bills. No work schedule to interfere with my personal life and above all else -- nothing to get me out of bed before noon. No, I'm not the biggest slacker in the history of slackers, but I do -- after observing my parents all these years -- recognize valuable time for rest and relaxation, knowing that they don't crop up too often in this so-called "adult world." Well, for this year's graduates, be you of the college variety which are well into your break, or of the high school, know this: the world's not that bad, but enjoy this time while you can. Here's my advice to our new graduates: sleep, play video games, eat as much as you can before you metabolism begins to slow down and do whatever new graduates do these days. Otherwise, just look forward to adult hood and all the challenges and rewards that come with it. Yeah, there are times when you get your rent bill, your power bill, whatever other bill and you lock yourself out of your house. But, that day (with the bills and all) can only come once a month, so don't fret too much. Again, there are days when your car gets bogged down in The Weekly Observer parking lot, but so far, that's only happened once in five months. Chances are you won't be parking in a grass lot when a torrential shower rains down for twelve straight hours. But, I digress. Post-high school or college life is not that bad. In fact it's pretty cool. Tell me, how much do you get paid in high school? Eh? That's right. Making your way through the world is not something that should be feared. No, my newly minted graduates -- the world is yours and although you'll never have the lack of responsibility that had during the past few years, you'll never have the power and control of your life that you'll in the upcoming few years. Either way, it's a time to celebrate. Congratulations to all of our 2011 graduates. To see more of the Weekly Observer or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www2.scnow.com/community/observer/. Copyright (c) 2011, The Weekly Observer, Hemingway, S.C. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]