Happy Birthday To Me

Today is my nineteenth birthday.  It is one of those in-between birthdays.  There is nothing that I can do at nineteen that I wasn't able to do at eighteen.  But that does not mean that I will take it for granted.  This past year was the best year of my life and I can only hope that this next year will be better still.

Nineteen things I have learned from the best year:
1.  The best days are ones that are the most ordinary.
2.  The best people are the ones who stick around.
3.  The best times are the ones where you are fearless.
4.  The best choices are the ones from your heart.
5.  The best memories are the ones that take you by surprise.
6.  The best meals are the ones you eat with your friends.
7.  The best nights are the ones you don't remember.
8.  The best friends are the ones who understand you.
9.  The best pictures are the ones where you are smiling.
10.  The best movies are the ones that make you laugh.
11.  The best classes are the ones that inspire you.
12.  The best shoes are the ones you can wear for miles.
13.  The best songs are the ones in which you know all the words.
14.  The best drives are the ones with no destinations.
15.  The best dreams are the ones that come true.
16.  The best stories are the ones you haven't finished yet.
17.  The best gifts are the ones you give.
18.  The best lessons are the ones you learn yourself.
19.  The best years are the ones that are yet to come.

Nineteen things I hope to accomplish this year:
1.  I want to watch the sun rise once a season.
2.  I want to give more of myself to my friends.
3.  I want to try something new once a month.
4.  I want to go outside of my comfort zone.
5.  I want to have my writing published.
6.  I want to go to sleep at a normal time.
7.  I want to be more open.
8.  I want to have someone change my mind.
9.  I want to learn something new.
10.  I want to be more dedicated to school.
11.  I want to go to more concerts.
12.  I want to be more involved with life.
13.  I want to teach something.
14.  I want to become a better photographer.
15.  I want to laugh all day, every day.
16.  I want to be more encouraging.
17.  I want to make my heart lighter.
18.  I want to believe in things a little bit more.
19.  I want to light up my life.

There are a lot of songs about being nineteen.  

A couple of them are about being braver than imaginable.  When courage is hard to find, they found it at age nineteen.  I want to find that.

A couple of them are about finding love and being so rapt in it.  But then the love is lost.  They blame it on being nineteen.  I wouldn't mind losing if it meant knowing love.

But the one that stands out to me is the one where they long to be nineteen.  They are old and looking back on the best year of their lives.  That is what I want.


Happy Birthday to me.