Before we developed into full humans who could use the mall for its intended purpose (shopping), it was our escape. It was perfect; we could meet up with boys or talk about private things without supervision. The local mall was a place our parents considered a safe environment, so arranging rides was a cinch.

Back in the day, you wouldn’t be caught DEAD at the mall with four or less people. Everyone went in giant herds made up of different middle schools around the area, if you were cool enough to have “out of school” friends. Oh, and if you were seen at the mall with your mom? Forget ever coming back to school, your reputation had been forever tarnished. If you were actually taking your precious time at the mall to shop, you better have been in either Abercrombie or Hollister. Which brings up my next point: why does everything in those stores look exactly the same? They had pale blue, pale pink, pale yellow, pale orange, pale green, and SOMETIMES turquoise tees if they were feeling wild.

Seeing these packs of kids circulate the mall now brings up a few questions I wish I had asked myself at that age:

1. What is being accomplished on your fifth non-shopping lap around the mall? Maybe I understand one or two; check out a few cool stores, eat a little and chat, but we hung out at the mall for HOURS!

2. Why did we find those massage chairs so damn fascinating?

3. Sarku Japan SUCKS. I realize that’s not a question, but we lived off that stuff, and someone needs to let the next generation know.

4. What was up with those photo shoots on the Macs at the Apple store? The color is saturated, whoop de fricken doo.

While this was an amusing time period, I’m glad I’ve grown to appreciate the mall for its primary purpose, and I now furiously roll my eyes upon passing 600 middle schoolers every now and then.

Those of you who know me know I’m a big fan of drawn out analogies, so stick with me here. In middle school we were lost, wandering around the same old mall without a cause, trying to find comfort in large groups of people. The overwhelming Hollister aroma called to us because we knew it was safe, and heck, all the other kids were doing it.

Although we don’t have a definite idea of where we’re going, we now know our surroundings and have a general sense of direction. We can venture off to different malls in the area and find our way to the nearest food court. We go to the mall with a clear goal in mind and work toward accomplishing it. Being caught shopping alone isn’t the end of the world and we can all move on with our lives.

As a senior at Churchill, I’ve realized a few things. One, companions are not accessories. You don’t need millions of them surrounding you in order to find your place. Accomplish your goals, begin with the end in mind and make real companions on the way. Two, independence comes with age. In middle school, we relied on our parents to drive us, but now that most of us have our licenses, we can take it upon ourselves to be self-sufficient. Three, don’t forget the little people! Going to the mall with your mom is a nice thing to do considering she birthed and raised you. Four, that skirt-over-jeans trend never looked good.