There is an ominous and well-accepted stereotype about 19. It is an age that is often over looked and under appreciated. The day I turned 19 I was presented with a Chick Fil A coupon, a pre game in my honor, and the idea that this was the age of irrelevance.
16 is our year of being the newest, most dangerous drivers on the road. 17, our last year before adulthood. 18, we are welcomed into the world of voting and lotto tickets. So what is 19?
19 is too old and not old enough all at once. A new life of independence usually begins the same year. 19 is the first time you fill out your own medical forms in a doctor’s office. It’s the first time you watch the Bachelorette without your mom there with you to commentate. It’s rewearing and rerewearing clothes because you hate doing your own laundry. It’s making yourself chicken noodle soup when you’re sick and picking up your own prescriptions. All at the same time, it’s not old enough. It’s not old enough to drink. It’s not old enough to take that law seriously. 19 is often not old enough to take yourself seriously.
19 is believing in the future. When we are young, we believe we can do anything in the world. Nothing is out of the realm of possibility. We can be an astronaut or the president or a super model. As we grow, something happens to innocence. Something happens to optimism. We throw up on Mission: Space at Epcot and suddenly we are no longer cut out to be astronauts. We flunk our high school Government class. We are not all skinny, blonde, and 6 feet tall. The longer we live in the world the more we realize how difficult it can be to succeed in it. 19 is knowing what’s possible. 19 is knowing what’s impossible. 19 is not caring. It’s pursuing our wildest dreams, chasing the American dream, and believing that we will find our own personal McDreamy.
19 is temporary. 19 is only a year. Youth is only a short span of time. It’s having time to change your major and change your mind. 19 is not the end of the world if the love of right now doesn’t turn out to be the love of your life. 19 is wanting to fall in love a million times and never again. It’s being in temporary love with every cute stranger you see. It’s still reminiscing on your first love. It’s one day desiring independence and the next wanting commitment. 19 is girls nights and first dates. 19 is second dates and heart break.
V. C. Andrews, author of Flowers in the Attic, wrote “”Why did I think back then, that happiness was always just ahead in the future.” So often we find ourselves following the stereotypes set for our age. We are waiting for the next big year, for what’s next, because that might make life better or somehow more meaningful. But if 16 is only the year we get our license and 21 is only the year we get to drink, we’re limiting our potential. We’re building a ceiling and trapping ourselves in. It’s not the number. It’s not 19. It’s the feelings and moments. It’s the achievements and the failures. It’s the wisdom, the curiosity, the innocence, the confusion, the joy.
19 is scary.
19 is unsure.
19 is hope.
19 is adventure.
19 is enthusiasm.
19 is exactly what you make it.