Forget Surviving Senior Year. (Not if you’re a memory keeper.)

 If you’re standing on the precipice of Senior year and want to capture the thrills and chills and all the in-betweens of this story- I’m here to tell you that you should absolutely not pay any attention to the guides that tell you how to survive it.

Because if really do want to capture this chapter- Senior year is not something to survive.

Here me out on this one. Rolling into Senior year of high school, whether you’ve asked for it or not, the lists have been piling up. The to do lists, to buy lists, dates on the calendars, deadlines to remember- mama has a lotta lists right now.

Yup. Senior year somehow becomes a second job for us- with a negative payroll and the benefit of secret grief sessions late at night as we seem to be the only one that realizes this fun ride ends with us having our hearts broken just a bit.

I’m not here to tell you how to make it through to Graduation with your sanity and heart in check. One, I don’t think that’s really possible- but more importantly- I don’t know if that’s even the point of this chapter.

I’m here to offer a type of corrective lens for how you view this wild ride.

Here’s (another!) list for you to consider as you step into Senior year: Moments to capture that will define what this all felt like.

Spoiler alert- it’s not really about the big stuff. And it’s not Graduation. I’m talking about the year that gets us there. The signs of life this very special year-

• Starting with the shopping trip for back to school clothes- somehow this won’t seem as big once college starts. The first last day of high school.
• The backpack that has somehow survived since sophomore year
• The pile of new notebooks- red for math, green for science, blue for history-
• The football bag that should probably be declared a biohazard.
• The college brochures slowly taking over the kitchen counter.
• Their car in the driveway (and the dent they hope we haven’t seen.)
• The late-night food deliveries on our front stairs.
• The bedroom as it is right now- with signs of younger them still very visible and not yet hidden away.
• The screenshot of Life 360 going off when they finally get home.
• The completely ordinary weeknight when nothing important happened. Except that we were all under one roof-

Do not believe they hype my friends. This year is not something we need to grit our teeth and get through. It’s something to take in.

Because the goal isn’t just to get your senior to graduation. The goal is not to miss the year that gets them there.

That’s what got me thinking about something I’d like to dive a little deeper into these next few months- I’m calling it “The Senior Story Project”.

Over the next school year, I’m going to be exploring senior year through the lens I know best: stories. Not just the big ones. I mean, don’t want you to be a total rebel and ignore those milestones.. But milestones are just markers along a journey- a point of pause that you look back from as well as look ahead to what is left of the trial you’re on.

But- I want to be a type of memory keeping tour guide for you and point out the little stories that tend to get lost:

And to your left- you’ll see the Varsity Jacket hanging on the back of the chair- this ever-present trophy will one day no longer be in a place of honor- take notice before it’s packed away. Here to your right is the last school email inviting you to parent teacher conferences. And up ahead- the last manic prep for school picture day. This one is the mac daddy of them all- Senior Photos!

I thought it might be fun to point out the upcoming Senior Attractions every few weeks and share ways to get the story behind the story. The scoop so to speak. That’s the juicy stuff- the stuff the best stories are made of!

Of course we’ll still hit the milestones. The tried and true right of passage down these hallowed halls leading to graduation. But we’ll also note the little moments that really only tick away in this last year of high school. We always know we are standing at a milestone- but it’s a lot harder to recognize the ordinary moment that has an invisible expiration date.

If you’re reading this now, school is just about to start. It’ll be the #firstlastday (celebrating it with Senior Sunrise is all the rage these days) But before the first-day signs come out and life starts moving at fast forward speed, why not take a few photos of life before the ride starts.

• Capture this moment of calm before the storm. What did life- what did they look like right before Senior year. I promise they’ll look different come this time next year. Heck- they will be different the first time they are home for college break
• I love taking photos of their night stand- I think so many stories lie in that little bit of real estate. Receipts, books, mementos, photos- what’s on their bed? Stuffed animals that have lived there for years? A poster above the bed? Soon you’ll be dressing it up for acceptance day of their college and things won’t look the same.
• How about their car- their sports or music gear? Hobbies like Legos or arts and crafts?
• Catch a shot of them just chilling on the couch after dinner- or in the car. (This is exacty why we have silent mode on our phones.)

The trick is to take the pictures without announcing that you’re “documenting senior year.” I promise that would be shut abruptly shut down. You just need silently collect these signs of life.

And during this whole process of documenting your Senior’s story- don’t forget you and your story as a Senior parent. You’re going to change a lot during this year. There’ll be things you’re ready for and things you’re absolutely not ready for. Document that too. Get in some pictures. Write what you were thinking. Tell the story from where you’re standing. It doesn’t all have to be out in the open like a manic therapy session- it can be tucked away in your memory keeping. (that’s what envelopes and pockets are for in a scrapbook!)

You’re not going to survive this ride. You’re going to live it.

This piece first appeared on Craft Your Joy, my Substack, where I’m going a little deeper into the stories behind the scrapbook pages. If you’re a memory keeper who wants to catch more than the milestones, come join me there.