For Good

So I was given a lead on a song for Laurelei to sing at graduation, "For Good" from Wicked. It's a beautiful song, and here I go again getting sentimental. It's been a week of reflection on those who have really changed me, from an ex-boyfriend who showed me that I could be happy with more than just me to care about, to my first love who taught me how to live with passion and how to go weak in the knees, from the girl who will always listen to me when I'm being ridiculous and somehow manage to bring me back to reality and sympathize at the same time, to the school that taught me how to be strong and independent. We are always shaped by the people we come into contact with, from the everlasting imprint of a first love to the subtle impression of a single act of kindness. I guess all my theories of living in a cave and avoiding human contact to hide from pain wouldn't pan out too well after all. As I face three more weeks of high school, I can't imagine where I would be without a single person who has crossed my path over the past four years, the past eight ... the past seventeen. I am who I am today because of you all, and I'm so grateful for every alteration. I'm ready to face "the real world" because of the foundation I have here, and I'm ready to cross paths with everyone in New York - I'm ready for that next step of self realization.

I've heard it said
That people come into our lives for a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led
To those who help us most to grow
If we let them
And we help them in return
Well, I don't know if I believe that's true
But I know I'm who I am today
Because I knew you.

Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you
I have been changed for good

It well may be
That we will never meet again
In this lifetime
So let me say before we part
So much of me
Is made of what I learned from you
You'll be with me
Like a handprint on my heart
And now whatever way our stories end
I know you have re-written mine
By being my friend.

Because I knew you
I have been changed for good.