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I’ll spare everyone the details of how I botched my one chance at delivering a valedictory speech in high school.

In short, I didn’t know any better. My home room teacher suggested I look up examples of other commencement speeches online, but I didn’t listen.

Graduating with 10 other students in rural northeast Louisiana, my speech was short, sweet and personal.

Me and my 10 colleagues were as good as cousins and as thick as thieves, having spent every year together since before puberty up to shenanigans in the classroom. I was one of the odd ones who hadn’t been at the same school since elementary, having moved to West Carroll Parish, Louisiana, from Mississippi with my parents in the seventh grade. But I’d had enough time there to grow really close to my classmates.

At my graduation, I told them that we are family and that this wasn’t our final goodbye. We’d all see each other again someday. That was 12 whole years ago. The shrinking school I graduated from is now closed. All that is left are memories and empty halls.

I now have the privilege of covering commencement ceremonies all over Natchez and Concordia Parish and hearing speeches delivered by young adults whom I watched grow up through reporting on their outstanding accomplishments.

I’ve been floored by many excellent graduation speeches, almost to the point I’d like a do-over.

Young people today are a lot smarter than I was in my high school years, some of them graduating with an Associate’s Degree before they get their high school diploma.

But in all the speeches, there is a common air of emotion. Every one of them gets personal.

It’s tough saying goodbye to friends. These students realize that their high school years are some of the best that life has to offer. But to tell the truth, those memories are only some among many of life’s most precious moments.

The year that should have been my 10-year class reunion came and went in 2023. I welcomed my baby girl into the world in late August of the same year. I skipped the reunion.

Life’s funny that way. It sometimes throws you a curveball you weren’t expecting.

I relive those memories from high school every time I watch a new class graduate.

I recently watched Ferriday High School sing “The Climb” together at their graduation — the same song my class sang at our baccalaureate — and the memories came flooding back.

Even after you say goodbye, those memories live with you forever. More importantly, the lessons that shaped you growing up will now help you define the person you want to be as you enter into adulthood.

With these sentimental thoughts, I’d like to offer the graduating classes of 2025 my congratulations as they prepare for life’s next best years. I wish you luck in all of your endeavors with this small piece of advice: Cherish every moment.

Sabrina Robertson is a staff reporter at The Natchez Democrat. She can be reached at sabrina.robertson@natchezdemocrat.com