Holy cow.
In two weeks it will be time for me to blow out 20 candles and say my final goodbyes to my teenage years. It’s nuts how much one can grow and change between the age 13 to 19; in the blink of an eye…you’re two decades old. One day you’re trying to figure out how to get a popcorn kernel out of your braces, and then just like that, you’re writing your first check for an obnoxious amount of college textbooks.
It’s funny how it works. When I was 13, I felt invincible. I was finally past the kid menu stage, and I was one year closer to adulthood. When I was 15, at the peak of my teenage angst, I looked to Taylor Swift for guidance and love advice, I had had a couple “first kisses” tied with some very serious relationships (lol), and I had just begun my high school career. Then, 16 and 17 roll around. Between all the football games, late night car rides (no later than 11 o’clock, because, you know, curfew), Steak n’ Shake dates with one friend after the other and R-rated movies. These years were, as a modern teenager would say, “lit." Between 16 and 18, I had it all figured out, and I ready and well prepared for adulthood.
Then, boom, you’re hit with the first adult phase of life; when you’re legitimately considered an adult and expected to do adult things, and you realize very soon in the game that you actually know nothing about what it means to be an adult. Ages 18 and 19 consisted of graduation, leaving for college, my first big heartbreak (thanks for nothing, Taylor Swift), my first job, my first debit card, three major changes because who actually knows what they want to do their life, learning the pros and cons of living with other people besides your family, and ultimately, reverting back to the kid’s menu.
It’s funny how when you’re 13, you want time to accelerate; you want to be treated and respected as an adult. Then, as soon as you get there, you want time to chill, to slow down because other adults are starting to refer to you for “adult things,” and that's terrifying. So people, teenagers especially, slow down and enjoy your time being wherever in life that you are right now. You have far than enough time to be an adult, so why the rush?
Here I am, two weeks left of 19, excited and prepared as I’ll ever be to say farewell to the teens. Goodbye, tight Aeropostale shirts and skinny jeans always accompanied with matching Converse. Goodbye, country version Taylor Swift. Goodbye, teenage angst and despair: you were unnecessary. Goodbye to all the money wasted on candy and Chinese food at the mall. Goodbye, and thank you, braces, for making my teeth the teeth they are today. Goodbye, my wonderfully awkward pubescent years: you were good to me.
