If you are a graduating high school senior like me — congratulations! You’re probably relieved and excited like I am to have made it to the end of a long and drawn-out year of studying, stress and senioritis. The year has come to a close and I’m looking forward to a hopefully relaxing summer before it’s back to school again. Yet when I attempt to sum up my year in just a single phrase, only one disappointing word comes to mind: anticlimactic.

When I asked previous graduates about their last year of high school, all I get are variations on the same three words: “college is better.” My parents barely seem to remember their last year of high school and teachers are virtually silent about the perhaps strategically forgotten time in their lives. What exactly is it about this year that begs to be remembered yet wants to be so forgettable?

Seven years of elementary school, two years of middle school, four years of high school: My entire education seemed to have been aiming me for the one moment of glory as I glided across the stage, snatched my diploma and exited the room, proceeding to bask in the freedom of the real world.

Making it to high school was nearly as uneventful as a typical family dinner-table conversation. “So how was your day?” “Good.” “What did you do?” “The usual.”

My 16th birthday merited a meal out at a restaurant, and getting my driver’s license awarded me the exciting opportunity to pick my little brother up from a party on a Friday night that I spent at home by myself.

Perhaps I’m unique in my apathy for what I feel are rather self-indulgent milestones over-emphasized by our culture, and perhaps the majority of high school seniors, like many of my friends, have thoroughly enjoyed their rites of passage. I, however, am perfectly content with admitting that for me, there are far more important memories to hold on to.

When I look back on my last year of high school, I probably won’t remember getting accepted to colleges, or dancing at my senior prom or even presenting my senior project at the end of the year. Some of those memories are already fading. But I will remember how much coffee I drank every day. I’ll remember how little work I finished in my study hall sitting next to two of my closest friends, and I’ll remember how excited I was to finally get to eat off campus for lunch.

Senior year has been the best year of my life so far — not because I’ve made it to the top of the high school food chain, or because my freedom from grade school is finally in sight, but because I’ve been more appreciative of my time spent with friends and family.

Here’s to 60 more years of forgetting old traditions, and making our own!

Joe Wilson graduated from The Bear Creek School on June 15. He will attend the University of California, Berkeley in the fall.