- Eichel Davis
BP #2: Saying Goodbye To An Old Friend
DEDICATED TO THE CLASS OF 2014, THE CLASS OF LEGENDS.
As I get ready to go off to college I've been thinking a lot about goodbyes. It's always hard to say goodbye. It's never easy to say goodbye to old friends, and loved family members. But the time always comes in our lives where we must do just that. We must let go, and let them live their lives.
With my book series, Seniors, I have held on tight for many many years. If I had followed my original plan, Seniors would have ended after the Final Chapter, hence the most misleading title in all of Seniors Universe. At first, I thought I was ready to end it. I had bigger plans, and bigger dreams. I wanted to move on. I thought I needed to, to be honest.
But I couldn't let go.
I could not let Matt and Johnny and the Jacksons and the Shanes, go. I needed more time with them. I needed to tell more stories with them in it. And given the great stories that came in Seniors 3, I think I was right. I was a page-click away from giving up on some of my greatest stories. I’m not as bright as I look.
And then stepped in Kaleb and the Next Generation. Their time with us was short, but what a time in was. In some ways, it is harder to say goodbye to them, than it is to Matt and Clan. I had more time with Matt. I developed more stories with them. But with Kaleb and the Next Generation, I still had many stories to tell. One of them involved Kaleb and Liam almost letting everything go. Another involved Miami’s underground. I would have loved to write those stories. I would have loved to drag Kaleb, Liam, Tyler, and the rest of the NG through that mud.
But it was time to move on.
You see, the goodbye, while painful, is the best part of the story. Its the best part of the book. It gives you the closure you wanted when you first opened the book. It gives you a definite ending. And I know what you are thinking...the guy who used cliffhangers like they were going out style is telling me about definite endings. But yes, I am. No one likes unanswered questions. All my cliffhangers were solved in the next book. So now, with Seniors ending for good, there will be no cliffhangers. No unanswered questions. It is over. Forever.
And in a way, me saying goodbye to Seniors, is me saying goodbye to high school. I started it in 8th Grade, and now I finish it on the eve of my Freshmen year at MIZZOU. So I am saying goodbye to alot more than just a book. I'm saying goodbye to freinds, to fun times, to unbreakable bonds. Yes even some of those unbreakable freindships will end. And I know that. And that will be the hardest part of all this. Many say it's saying goodbye to your family that's hard. But family never leaves you. And most of the time those friendships, those brotherhoods and sisterhoods, just slowly drift apart. It's almost never by your planning. Its almost always just the hard hand of time.
But we will press on.
With A Few Painful Goodbyes Looming,
Eichel
