But now I'm four months away from graduating and 12 days away from my 18th birthday and I wonder where all the time went and if I was happy along the way. For the most part I can say I was, although I never really trust people who say that absolutely LOVED high school and so far I can definitely count my middle school years as the single worst three years of my entire life.

However for the most part, I had a good time. I played in band and I acted in plays (that's right, I'm still a geek and proud of it). I went to state speech, something that always amazes people because I talk really fast and with a small lisp. I broke a few rules and sometimes got caught, and sometimes didn't (although my Law teacher Mr. Long would say that makes me a scofflaw and morally wrong).

I have a lot of questions to answer about the person I'm going to become in the following months. Should I follow my pocketbook and go to UNL? Or follow my heart and go to Boston? Should I study law or secondary education? Should I wear the blue or red vest under my tux to prom?

Okay, so maybe I was just kidding on that last one (but seriously, high school girls and prom are a dangerous combination).

Occasionally I tease my mom that when I turn 18 she'll have no legal control over me. I really think that just kills her. Generally, she'll retort by yelling at me to do the dishes or take out the trash and threatening to cut off my cell phone while I'm still 17. She likes to be in control, like I suppose most moms do.

I'm also beginning to think that she's starting to show the first signs of separation anxiety; after all, in the past she never walked by my room and sighed loudly while clutching my baby pictures underneath her arm like she's started to in the past few months.

All right, so maybe I exaggerate. Maybe she claims that she's not too upset at all. Maybe she's looking forward to seeing me go. Maybe she's already planning on turning my bedroom into scrapbooking central the minute I leave the house.

If you think about it, our very existence is such a strange thing. We're born and raised, we leave home and have kids, we work hard all of our lives, and then we die.

OK, so maybe I'm being a little bit pessimistic; but for the most part, that's what goes down.

If you ask any random person in my class right now what their biggest fear is they would either say Hillary Clinton as President or the future. Now, I don't necessarily agree with the Clinton assumption, but the future does scare me.

I'm not too worried anymore, though, because like all things, the world changes and we grow older, and it'll all be OK in the end.