Today is my long-awaited 15th birthday. As a good friend of mine says, I'm "halfway to 30." Am I the only one who finds that terrifying?
My lovely friends and family have swamped me with so many birthday messages already, and it's not even noon. (you know who you are...thanks for making my day so special!!)
Seriously, though. All kidding aside...today I'm only 15.
And I've still got a lot of growing up to do.
My lovely friends and family have swamped me with so many birthday messages already, and it's not even noon. (you know who you are...thanks for making my day so special!!)
Sometimes 15 feels so old...5 years until 20, only 1 left until I'm old enough to get behind the wheel of a car. (Speaking of which...everyone who knows me is basically terrified for me to start taking Driver's Ed. Which is sad, because I'm pretty excited. It's not that I'm irresponsible...just the small fact that I'm awful at reading maps and STILL don't really know my way around my hometown.)
And I've still got a lot of growing up to do.
15 feels old to you, 16 feels young to me. Next year, 16 will feel old to you, while 17 feels young to me. Last year, I would assume that 14 felt old to you, while 15 was feeling young to me. 2012 already feels old to me, as does 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, and 2005, even though I can remember when 2004 felt new. In an Encyclopedia Brown mystery, one of the characters once felt old at age 11, because it's halfway to 22, which is halfway to 44, which is middle aged. You could look at a four-year-old, and say, "He's only ten times away from 40!" Does that make him old? You've been alive for 15 3/4 years. You've been alive and breathing through your own lungs for 15 years. (For convenience, I'm going to say alive at 15, instead of alive and breathing through your own lungs at 15). Can you remember your birth? To get to 30, you have to double the entire time you've been alive! One year until you /can/ drive, but you don't have to. I know some people who are 17-18, and are just getting their permits now. And I have about as much focus on my permit as I do on my novel. Growing up, that doesn't really have to do with physical age. Physical age is just a guideline, because it usually grows at a similar speed to your intelligence, maturity, wisdom, etc. It doesn't have to. A person who is 200 years old can still learn more, and a teenager could be wiser than him. Not necessarily, but it is possible. Something I've noticed about age, is that it comes at a pace that seems normal. You're always growing, but it will never seem like it. Tomorrow will feel the same as today, even though you're slightly different. And zeg will feel like tomorrow. And the day after zeg will feel like zeg. But the day after zeg may not feel like today. It's like the straw that broke the camels back, except that only one straw is added per day, and in between that, the camel decided to go to a gym and work out so that his back wouldn't break.
ReplyDeleteO.O
Delete...poor camel.
Well I'm halfway to 36. Haha! As I've told you before, 15 feels young to me, but the mere fact that you're acknowledging that you have room to grow shows that you are wise beyond your years.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I didn't really start writing until I was 15. So you're way ahead of me there. :P
DeleteHahaha, you're OLD. ;) I didn't know you didn't start writing until you were 15...
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