The game clock ticked down the final minutes. I held my breath, hoping for a miracle.

But the 10-point deficit was too much for my high school's basketball team to overcome, and their undefeated season ended in a crushing loss at the state tournament last weekend.

I went to the game with high hopes. My younger brother is a senior on the team, and I was excited to see them play. Given their record, I figured a first in state would be a piece of cake.

I thought wrong, and that made the loss that much more depressing, not to mention the dejected looks on the players' faces, a few of them clearly holding back tears, and the silence of the 1,500 fans – half of my town.

Then, from somewhere behind me I heard a man say, "Well, it's only a high school basketball game."

Only a high school basketball game? I wondered how he could say such a thing and then I remembered: The team had gone to state twice when I was in high school and, looking back, those were only high school basketball games.

At the time, those games were a huge deal. So was planning the perfect prom night and getting my dance team to sectionals. Writing three-page papers, taking senior pictures and even the first day of school seemed like pretty big things too…then.

This got me wondering: Were parts of Marquette "only college experiences"? What will we think when we look back on Marquette's Big East games, our first freshman class, Hunger Clean-Up, the toga parties and even the intramural shirts we won? Someday when I have a house payment, a job I hate and bratty kids, will college seem as unimportant as high school does now?

This line of thinking got me pretty depressed. I started feeling that maybe none of this whole college thing mattered. But then it hit me.

Tell the young boys who just gave their all on the court that it was "only a high school basketball game" and you'll hear a very different story. They'll tell you a story of teamwork, leadership and friends. Years from now they'll tell tales of learning life lessons and figuring out who they are.

The game mattered and so did the ones during my high school career. I went to them with friends I still treasure, and we cheered and wept together. The things I did in high school got me to Marquette, and the things I do here will determine my next step into the real world.

High school may seem miniscule from time to time, but the things that were big deals then are the reasons new things are so important now. Each experience and life chapter shapes us. Making the most of those moments gets us to the next ones.

So here's to living in the moment…even if sometimes it seems to only matter for that moment. And here's to hoping that when we look back, we remember freshman classes and high school basketball games for what they meant to us then.