Hello to the Rest of My Life

My first picture as a 22 year old woman!

I was planning on making this post earlier today, but I had plans. Today is my 22nd birthday! That means no Featured People post today because the featured person is myself. I have been on this earth for twenty-two years, and those years have brought a lot of ups and downs, heartache, love, and many adventures. I have learned how hard life can get after leaving home. This life isn't all sunshines and rainbows sadly. Today I had such an amazing day. My friends that I met from working at Portrait Innovations came to hangout with me today. One of them bought me a cake with some candles, and then the three of us went out to eat. The other friend gave me $50 dollars which I was not expecting, but I greatly appreciated it. I ended the day with being treated to breakfast for dinner at Cracker Barrel with my super amazing boyfriend. I honestly couldn't have asked for a better day, and I am so grateful to all the people that remembered me on this day.

Something that I thought about today since I was reminiscing about my life is how we start off as children hearing about all the amazing things we can do once we are older. Our parents fed us the phrase, "I'll tell you when you're older" constantly so it just made us want to grow up faster. We were tired of being these lowly children who weren't able to do anything that we wanted because we had to ask our parents permission. Then we start growing up, and finally hit the age of eighteen, but we still aren't completely happy with our lives because while we may be adults, we aren't legal just yet. Being eighteen means we are still the babies. We go to college and realize that we still have to drink illegally even though we live on our own. Our entire lives have been lived waiting for the moment when we turn the magically age of twenty-one. Twenty-one means that you are a legal, drinking adult. You no longer have to sneak drinks from your older friends. The doors to the alcohol behind the bar have been metaphorically opened up, and the world feels shiny and new. The age you have always waited for has finally arrived. But then a year of being twenty-one passes, and it's time for your next birthday. This may not be something that everyone feels, but I felt it today at midnight. The next birthday means that I am no longer twenty-one, and I have to continue onto the next age. I have to turn twenty-two which is not something that I was anticipating. It made me feel nostalgic for that year of being twenty-one and all the time it took to get there. Goodbye twenty-one, Hello to the rest of my life.

"Do not regret growing older. It is a privilege denied to many."

#BIRTHDAY