For most people, turning 21 is the birthday they look forward to most, but no one ever talks about the year after; 22.
When you turn 10, it’s your first double-digit birthday. When you turn 13, you’re finally a teenager. When you turn 15/16, you can finally drive. When you turn 17, you no longer have to sneak into R-rated movies. When you turn 18, you can buy lottery tickets. And before too long comes the big 21, a year that I personally had been anticipating my whole life.
When I turned 21, I didn’t feel restricted anymore. I felt grown and able. Not because it’s the legal age to drink alcohol in the United States, but because I no longer had to worry about most age restricting laws, and boy did that feel good.
But what now? What do you have to look forward to turning 22 or any age after 21 for that matter? Being able to rent a car at 25? No thanks. Even thinking about eventually turning 25 gives me the heebie jeebies.
For the past couple of months I’ve been thinking about how I’m going to approach my birthday this year. At first, I thought about cancelling my birthday forever (dramatic right?). But the more I thought about it, the more I knew I had to find some way to come to terms with turning another year older. And then it hit me like a bag of bricks. Tomorrow is never promised. What if this is my last birthday?
Turning another year older is scary. It means more responsibility, it means maturity, and that the real world is more than likely going to knock me off my feet sometime soon. But turning another year older also means more experiences, increasing your potential to grow into the woman your family always knew you would be, and most importantly, being alive. Too often we take our lives for granted.
For so long I only saw birthdays as stepping-stones to legally be able to do something. It never crossed my mind to acknowledge the fact that I was blessed enough to celebrate another year. So, so what I’m turning another year older? I’m breathing.
