Everyone goes through it - patiently waiting until your 21st birthday. It's one of those milestones that, at the time, seems pretty significant (you're finally legal!!!), but in retrospect is probably a lot more about the hype than anything else. And if you have a late birthday like I do, it's definitely all about the hype. In reality, by the time your birthday rolls around, everyone has celebrated enough 21st birthdays to have realized that the milestone really isn't that big a deal. And let's face it, after this one, we youngins will be pretty thankful we get to whip out the "I'm still in my 20s" when we're surrounded by a bunch of newly 30, newly paranoid friends who are getting old while we're still young and fabulous. But for now, the wait is excruciating and sends you through some pretty awful highs and lows in the process.

So here's my take on the five stages all summer babies face on our wait 'til the big 2-1.

1. Denial

It's only four months until your birthday — the wait can't be that bad right? You've got work and other things to worry about anyway. Your friends won't go out that much, you'll still get ice cream and drive around and watch horrible romantic comedies like you used to. You can do this! Four months will go by before you know it, and all this worrying will have been for nothing.

2. Anger.

You take it back. All of it. Four months is not going to fly, and every weekend has just become a sad attempt at making up for everything you're missing out on. You can't go to Happy Hour on Thursdays with your new work friends, you can't even order a glass of wine at dinner! Not only that, but making weekend plans just keeps getting more and more awkward, as you suggest a quiet night in with loads of Chinese, while everyone else is thinking of polite ways to agree, but suggest that maybe drinks in town could be fun too. You hate how boring you're becoming, and you hate how no one seems to understand just how hard it is to still be 20. YOU HATE ALL OF IT.

3. Bargaining.

Things have gotten bad, fast. You've start to realize that, despite your attempts at making low-key Saturday nights seem ideal, your friends want to go out and explore the bar scene, and for the next few months that is going to happen without you. You've stopped suggesting fun things sans drinks and, instead, resort to pleading. You start to play the guilt card and remind your friends that, while you're sure bars are fun and all, they still like hanging out with you, right? You're sure they could spare one Saturday night to chill with you rather than hang out with some cute boys at the local sports bar. Please?

4. Depression.

So that week of begging has left you feeling pathetic, and you realize your only option for the next month is to suck it up and ride it out. So, you stock up on some Ben & Jerry's, start that new Netflix series you've been eyeing all summer and prepare for the hibernation until your birthday. A few tears are shed, a few pounds are gained. But hey, you've tried everything but self pity, and that's the only thing that's looking promising at the moment.

5. Acceptance.

As the weeks start to pass (a little faster than before), and you're that much closer to the big day, you decide that everything is going to be OK. Yes, you've been a bit dramatic these past few months, but for good reason. It will all be worth it soon, and there's nothing you can do in the mean time but find a killer outfit, make some awesome birthday plans and dream of the night when you can finally forget how much your life has sucked and how awesome it is to finally be 21.