This Place

Looking up at the sun, shining through the fire-tipped leaves above me, I realize that this will never happen again. This moment, the present for such a short time, will be the past before any of us can blink. Time is forever moving and it won't stop for anyone. What we do today, will be history tomorrow. It is now or never to do what must be done. This place, that I stand in with the world happening around me, I won't stand in again. I won't have another day exactly like today for the rest of my life. I won't always be a student. I won't always be young. I will never be the same. What happened yesterday has shaped me, what happens today will shape tomorrow. What I do tomorrow will shape the rest of my life. In this place in time, I  recognize what came before. The places I have been, the people I have met, the things I have done, can't be reversed now. I reflect on where I am now. How far I've come, how much farther I have to go, the mistakes I've made that I learned from. I think forward. What do I need to do? How can I get to where I want to be? Though I can't change the past, I am the present, and I will choose my future. We all can choose our future. What we want for ourselves, what we want for eachother. What we want for this place, that gave us the gift of right now, and holds our opportunities for the future. This place, that is an exact moment in time, significant in our making. This place, that will be gone tomorrow, but with us for the rest of our lives.