I Turn 18 Today.
I turn 18 today. This is a big birthday in itself. It’s the year I can vote, buy cigarettes and a lotto ticket. As well as, be tried as an adult in court, buy a rifle or a shotgun, and have most of the rights as an adult (except drinking, at least while I’m still in the States). On top of that, I’m preparing for one of the biggest years in my life. Realizing that 18 is the year that everything is going to change is a weird feeling. Whenever I go on vacation with my family, we all drive. The worst part and the best part of the drive is the time it takes to get to the destination. The feeling of wonder that you get before you arrive and all the adventures you will have. That what being 17 has felt like. 17 was the year that I prepared for the journey that awaits me once I turn 18. It’s a rather unhinging feeling knowing that I will come out of this age no longer the person I am right now.
So much is to happen. And it all seems to start as soon as my birthday came. Tomorrow, I leave for Colorado for a week. When I come back the first of the walkouts happen the day after. Then midterms will take place as well the ending of the grading period. Not long after that, as in less than a week, the March For Our Lives will take place. As I am the co-leader for the walkouts and the march, it’s a lot of work that I will have to do, while not being at home. Then that afternoon of the march, I will have to leave for my spring break trip with my youth group. And that’s just my schedule for March, not including auditions, practices, and school. On top of all this, I have my last drama club production, I graduate, I choose which college I will attend. In the summer, I’ll be getting my first real job, a drivers license, and will leave for my exchange. Although I am stressed, I am excited for what awaits me.
18 seems daunting enough in itself, but to add all of this on top of it seems sometimes paralyzing. But I am not afraid of what is to come. I am excited and impatient for the world that I am going to be apart of. For once, I am going into a birthday not bitter of the past I am leaving, but excited for the future awaits. Today marks not only the first day of adulthood, but the first day of a whole life of new adventures.