It might be a week after my 22nd birthday, but this blog has been on my mind for awhile now. Have you ever noticed how every year around your birthday you start to reflect on your life? Have you accomplished any goals in the past year? How has life changed? Are you happy with the person you are? Do you have relationships that you'd fight for, that are meaningful? For some reason, birthdays seem to draw all of these life questions to the surface. Perhaps it's the connotation that that we're one year less young. Not one year older, but we are less young. Our soul is growing. We are learning. We are building relationships and lives. We are less young.
I felt at ease moving from 21 to 22. I joked with my friends that I was officially "old" and that I was 21 going on 45--I do watch World News every night. Yet, there was less pressure with this birthday. Having not drank before I turned 21--shocking, I know--I felt a certain obligation to "go crazy" on my 21st, which I didn't and still never have. It isn't me. The social stigma is that 21 year olds are just crazy college kids with no ambitions or determination. So, in a way, I was more excited then ever to turn the big 2-2 and break free of that stereotype that I never fit with my life and values.
I celebrated my birthday on Saturday (my birthday was on Monday) with a dinner with my parents and a party at my apartment with my friends. It was relaxed and fun. There was no stress and no fuss over me. It was just a gathering of friends celebrating how life has brought us all together. It was what I would call a perfect birthday... except for the fact that it wasn't actually my birthday. No, that was Monday. The day where I ran out of ink in the middle of printing a homework assignment; the day where I had back-to-back meetings; the day where I studied all night for an exam on Tuesday. In the words of my mother, "Welcome to adulthood." It didn't feel like my birthday. As a person who LOVES birthdays (others, more than my own), it was a bit of a disappointment. Shouldn't the day feel different? More special?
I was getting notifications of people writing on my Facebook wall all day on Monday, but it wasn't until I read through the posts on Tuesday that I realized how special I should have felt on my birthday. Friends from high school, old teammates, sorority sisters, cousins, uncles and aunts and even a high school teacher wished me happy birthday. The messages came in so many forms, from my Facebook, texts, phone calls and cards in the mail. I was quite honestly astounded at the love pouring in from so many different areas of my life. As I let the messages sink in, I couldn't help but feel this overwhelming sense of joy. I am so blessed. I am blessed to have such wonderful friends and family. I am blessed by the sun upon my face. I am blessed to have amazing opportunities. I am blessed by my faith. I am blessed. With another year under my belt, I am less young. However, I have better awareness of and gratitude for the things that matter most in life and, for that, I am extremely grateful.
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