I sometimes get tired of older people telling me how lucky I am to be in high school, that dreamy, far-away look they get in their eyes as they recall their own high school years—the effortless social interactions, the brimming self-confidence and self-awareness, the outpouring of respect and empathy from peers, the fashion. “High school,” people are always saying, “life just doesn’t get better than that!”

I for one am determined to not let these—the Best Years of My Life—pass by without noting every wonder and appreciating every aspect. Every day in high school is a banquet of pleasures, a bouquet of fresh experiences. From the moment my alarm severs me from sleep in the pre-dawn darkness to the point when my body collapses late at night into bed, I float through this enchanted world of high school in a state of blissful gratitude. Oh, the magic of heading off to school before the sun has risen, eyes bleary with sleep as I make my way to campus against that early morning orchestra of whirring street cleaners and clanking garbage trucks. And what is more invigorating than trudging through a crowded hallway to a classroom that smells like dry-erase markers and disinfectant, barely awake, to be ambushed with a pop quiz on a topic as exciting and relevant as The History of Agriculture or Parts of a Cell?

And if bright lights and pop quizzes aren’t enough to get your blood flowing, there’s always the anticipation of the exquisite gourmet cuisine which awaits you during your lunch break, the unique odors and textures and colors presented to you each day on your tray, the enduring curiosity with which you will repeatedly ponder, “Is this a starch? A meat? A vegetable?” Plus, what wonders of the world can compare to the ambiance one finds in a high school cafeteria? Those concrete walls and linoleum floors! That lingering scent of bleach! And which celebrated culinary artist was it who said, “Every dish tastes better when served straight from a vat”?

Oh, right. None of them. Ever.

But perhaps the very best thing about being a high school student is that even when the school day comes to an end, you get to carry the experience home with you, strapped like a load of heavy boulders onto your back, in the form of homework. Homework allows you to stay lost in that magical kingdom of high school during afternoons, evenings, late nights, weekends, and even holidays!

Every day after school, I rush home to my desk where I remove my homework, stack by stack, and set it up like a fortress around me, blocking me from the sun and fresh air of the world outside. I stand before it like a lone mountain-climber before Everest, awed by its mass. I rub my hands together in anticipation of the work before me, the hours I will spend laboring, the pressure I will face. My assignments spread before me in a buffet of choices: Should I start with science? Math? English? Arabic? 

I close my eyes so it can be a surprise, letting my fingers explore the piles on my desk, selecting a single assignment from the mass. As I open my eyes, my pulse flutters with anticipation, and I gasp in delight when I see that it’s English. I love all the special challenges and struggles of English homework. My only complaint is that there isn’t more of it, that it may take as little time as several hours to complete. Fortunately, there are still all the other subjects, enough to keep me at my desk until I pass out from exhaustion. What a disappointment it would be to finish early and be stuck for the night with nothing to do but play on my PS4 or enjoy the company of my family and friends. Thank you, high school!

I know that high school is limited, that soon enough, I’ll be kicked out of the garden, sent off to high school, then college, then all that comes after. And I know I will certainly grieve for this time, that I will look back with great nostalgia on the early mornings and the pop quizzes, the crowded hallways and the strange smells from the lunchroom, the marathon sessions of homework, and say to myself, If only I could live through all that again. If only I’d appreciated it more. I’m so lucky that, right now, high school feels like it will last forever. As with the homework, it spreads before me like a desert, with no respite, no reprieve, no end whatsoever anywhere in sight.