Aaisha’s Ramadaan diaries, Day 19: On high school memories

    Day 19: On high school memories

    On Friday night I hung out with some of my friends from high school and we had the BEST time, because five years later we still make each other laugh until we have to clutch our tummies.

    I had a really nice time in high school, for the most part, largely because I was so unbothered and unfazed and always so happy to do my own thing. Towards the last few years of school I got very involved in extra curriculars that I really enjoyed and I was also a bit of a nerd, but I got to know so many people and I always had fun in everything that I did. I got up to some mischief too – as we all did while at school – but I feel like my high school experience shaped my character in a lot of ways. It instilled a kind of resilience and determination in me that I like to think I still have today. And I like to think that I have tried to internalise and consistently keep in the back of my mind to live up to my school motto as much as possible – “confident, courageous young women.”

    Of course, I was lucky that this model and this type of school worked for me. It doesn’t work for everyone, because people have different needs and thrive in different environments, and that’s okay.

    At school I made lasting friendships with true and super solid people, people that I can be as close to today. We can have a conversation after MONTHS and pick up where we left off, as though it’s break time and we’d just seen each other in Ms Marsh’s maths class this morning. Lately, after sehri (pre-dawn meal), I’ve been dreaming about school a lot. It may have something to do with the fact that I make my little sister – currently in grade 9 at my alma mater – fill me in on everything going on and how her school experience is going (she loves it).

    School was such a special time for me. I always think back to how anything at that time seemed possible, and how it seemed that there was all the time in the world to do things. Of course, you live and you learn and you become arguably better for it Рbut the days of my 16 year old naivet̩ still remain some of the sweetest in my memory.