Birthdays come around once a year. There are the big ones. Sixteen is when you can start driving. Seventeen is when you can start buying your own R rated movie ticket. Eighteen is when you 'officially' become an adult. Twenty-one is the legal age you can drink and buy alcohol. I am turning twenty this week and I am not as excited as I have been for past birthdays.

When you're young, the week before your birthday seems like the slowest. Then it's finally here! My parents treated me like every kid want to be treated on their birthday: special. I am not so much of a kid anymore. Now I am turning twenty. Yikes.

I feel like I should be in my teens for the rest of my life. I feel like I am still the teenager that relies heavily on my parents. I can't be an adult yet, right? I have been alive for now two decades. I feel like I still have so much to learn. Even so, I am grateful for what I have been given and what I have learned.

I have been blessed with good health. Past the simple common cold, I have stayed healthy. I have been blessed with two loving parents that support me in all that I do and a group of friends that care about me and look out for my best interests. Without these people, I would not be at Illinois State University working toward something I am truly passionate about. Not only that, I have been given countless opportunities to succeed. With being involved in several clubs and organizations at school, I am never bored. Not everyone gets access to opportunities that help you grow as an individual. For something as simple as being in college or having a loving family, it is something to be thankful for.

Everyone says don't take life for granted but truly, every one of us does. A sickness or injury won't happen to you because you are invincible. This is especially true for college kids in their twenties. It isn't until you hear about an event that hits close to home when you really think that something like that could happen to me. Recently, a fellow classmate I knew passed away this past summer. He was diagnosed with cancer a couple years before that. He was a year younger than me when he died. It makes you take a step back from life and think about lucky you are.

20 years ago, when Mariah Carey and Aerosmith were all over the radio and "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" was first released in the United Kingdom, I entered the world not knowing how lucky I was to be apart of it. I have learned a lot in my twenty years on Earth but I am nowhere close to knowing where else life is going to take me. I know with the support of all my friends and family, I can take on the world. Here's to twenty more years of health, love, and happiness!