The night before I moved out, I sat in my room til the wee hours of the morning packing my life away. Twenty-two years of homework assignments, key chain collections, yearbooks, art projects, miscellaneous trinkets, souvenirs from places I've been (and places my friends have been), certificates, awards, and plain old junk.
I amazed myself with some of the things I kept over the years. Did I really need to keep a deflated balloon from my 18th birthday? Or every.single.one. of my notes from junior high and high school? From every class? And yet some things I was so grateful to have kept. Like my awesome key chain collection that I started when I was in like 2nd grade.
Everything in that room was a trigger to some sort of memory for me, and the whole night was spent taking one l-o-o-o-n-g trip down memory lane. It was very bittersweet.
Some days when I realize that my childhood really is over, and that gone are the days of simply worrying about homework assignments or what people thought at school, I mourn for the loss of those times. I would rather cling to the remains of those memories rather than go out and make new ones. I always knew getting older was inevitable, but I was never prepared for the changes that come, the ones that every person must go through. As childish as it may seem, I still don't think I'm ready to be an adult.
Unfortunately, that's not really my choice.
I amazed myself with some of the things I kept over the years. Did I really need to keep a deflated balloon from my 18th birthday? Or every.single.one. of my notes from junior high and high school? From every class? And yet some things I was so grateful to have kept. Like my awesome key chain collection that I started when I was in like 2nd grade.
Everything in that room was a trigger to some sort of memory for me, and the whole night was spent taking one l-o-o-o-n-g trip down memory lane. It was very bittersweet.
Some days when I realize that my childhood really is over, and that gone are the days of simply worrying about homework assignments or what people thought at school, I mourn for the loss of those times. I would rather cling to the remains of those memories rather than go out and make new ones. I always knew getting older was inevitable, but I was never prepared for the changes that come, the ones that every person must go through. As childish as it may seem, I still don't think I'm ready to be an adult.
Unfortunately, that's not really my choice.
(I've tried bribing God to agree to let me stay young forever, but apparently offering to do endless hours of community service or bake hundreds of batches of cookies for the elderly isn't enough)
I think the rest of you can agree with me that getting old blows. Just when you reach the point of gaining enough wisdom to know what you're actually doing in life, your body craps out on you. What kind of a mean joke is that?
I think the rest of you can agree with me that getting old blows. Just when you reach the point of gaining enough wisdom to know what you're actually doing in life, your body craps out on you. What kind of a mean joke is that?
But it's part of life, so we have to accept it. Embrace it. Resisting it will do nothing except make us bitter and senile. I'm only 22 and I can already feel the senility coming on. So guess what? I'm going to change that. Each new year means more love, more laughter, more heartache, but more triumph over those heartaches, and best of all more lessons learned.
On January 1, 2010 I was debating whether or not to jump into a pool at 10:00 at night, outside, middle of winter, in Colorado. At the very last second I decided to go for it, and right before I jumped in I shouted, "It's freaking 2010, dangit!!" And that has been my motto for this year.
It's freaking 2010.
On January 1, 2010 I was debating whether or not to jump into a pool at 10:00 at night, outside, middle of winter, in Colorado. At the very last second I decided to go for it, and right before I jumped in I shouted, "It's freaking 2010, dangit!!" And that has been my motto for this year.
It's freaking 2010.
That means no holding back. Follow through with your dreams.
And just freaking do it.
And just freaking do it.
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"If you want to keep your memories, you first have to live them."
-Bob Dylan
3 comments:
Home is a place you grow up wanting to leave, and grow old wanting to go back to.
-J. E. Pearce
It's a weird transition to becoming an adult. I'm not a sentimental person, so I really have nothing from high school or even college. Sometimes I wish I were more so.
MORE!
You know, it takes years to feel like an adult. Ask any -older- adult, they'll tell you :)
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