How is everyone doing? Good, I hope, because it might not get any better than today!

Graduation Day. We finally got everything figured out around here and just in time to start all over again somewhere else. Looking down from the top of the ladder on the water tower you start to wonder if you're ever going to make it or not. But a few arrests, some near death experiences, and a lot of good times later, here we all are.

So I thought for a while about what I was going to talk about up here. I thought about saying something about planning for the future, or making good decisions. I wanted to leave you with some good advice.

The only problem with that is that I'm only 18 myself and I'm sure my parents can tell you that I don't always make the best decisions, so I'm not really in a position to be giving out advice.

I decided instead to talk about one of the things I feel I've done well in my 18 years, and that's live without regret. I think the key to happiness all along has been that even though I made mistakes and fell short of what I intended on many occasions, I never regretted a single second of it. The best thing I could do was to take my mistakes and shortcomings and try to learn from them. I can only hope that I can do the same in the future. As long as I can say that I gave everyday all I could and I'm still trying to live for the Lord, I can never regret anything I do and I can always be content.

I hope that everyone can find a similar contentment, or at least something, no matter what it is, that makes them happy. Everyone is always telling me that I'll move away and get rich, but the truth is, being rich isn't my goal. Being happy is. If being rich makes me happy, then hopefully I can do that. If it's something else, then I'll keep searching until I find out what it is.

I don't think we should be scared to take risks to get what makes us happy. If you have to bet the farm to win the big city high-rise, then do it. Even if you lose, you may be better off for the experience. Just trust in God to provide you what you need and you'll survive. If you get in a bad enough bind, you can always go on MTV and be on the Real World and, you know, just invest all of that money in lottery tickets.

But I leave you with this. Good luck DeLeon Senior Class of '08. You stay classy.