Sometimes you just need some yogurt.

That was my thought Tuesday afternoon when I got to the point that I couldn’t string together a coherent sentence and my spelling skills would take the worst prize known to man.

Things at the newspaper office are crazy. The same can be said, I’m sure, for things at the homes of most graduating seniors.

I can’t believe it’s May – let alone the day before school gets out for summer vacation. It seems like just yesterday that we were shopping for notebooks and new backpacks. Time flies, it seems.

For the last six years, I’ve covered high school graduations in the county, generally at Pleasant Home in Florala. We’ve worked out a system that allows us to perfectly time Star-News staff attendance at every ceremony in the county. No easy feat, I assure you.

I’ve seen smiles of ecstatic joy as that boy people thought would never make it stride down the center aisle. I’ve seen the tears of parents and grandparents as they realize the milestone of graduation.

In five years, I’ll be among the crowd as I watch my baby – in Andalusia red – walk to center stage and take possession of her future.

There are thousands of things that I wish someone would have told me after I graduated high school. So, I wracked my brain to come up with some words of wisdom for the Class of 2013 and those that follow it its footsteps. Here, it goes:

• Enjoy your time at home. I know you can’t wait to get out of Covington County, but remember this – being away from home is a lot more complicated than you think it will be.

• Life is a party. In high school, Friday and Saturday nights were the party nights. In college every night is a party. You need to be smart about the decisions you make. Everybody thinks it doesn’t matter what you do, but it does.

• Manage your money. It’s tough when your spending money for the semester is gone in the first three weeks of school. And let’s face it – you can only eat Ramen Noodles for so long before the sight of them turns your stomach. Trust me on this.

• Don’t ignore your friends. Don’t get so involved with your future plans and your new college life that you forget about the people that mean the most to you now. After graduation, the possibilities are endless, but a good friendship is priceless.

And probably the most important piece of wisdom I can give is this – life is not fair. It is not easy and only you have the ability to make the most it. Good luck.