Today, I turn fifteen years old. This weekend, I’m going to have a party, a pretty big one, to celebrate. For the past few years, I’ve woken up on January 29th and been able to say that I’m really happy it’s my birthday. I’m really glad I’ve turned one year older. But does one specific date really matter in the scheme of things? Just because I’m exactly fifteen years old today doesn’t mean I’ve gotten any smarter than I was yesterday, or any more mature. But we celebrate our birthdays all the same.
I think we do this because our birthdays are something reliable, something that will not stop no matter what happens in our lives. If you can just make it through another year, you get a party and a day dedicated completely to you. We celebrate because this is something stable in our ever-changing lives, and I like that about our culture. You always have something you can hold on to, something you never have to worry about making, because it happens no matter what. Maybe not the actual party, or even any recognition at all, but you still know that there is one thing in your life that never ever changes.
I’m very lucky this year. I don’t know how it happened, but the weather must have taken pity on me. It snowed about half an inch last night, but in my town, that’s more than enough to cancel school. So I woke up to the knowledge that, on my birthday, I don’t even have to go to school. And I’d finished all my homework last night, so I am really free to do anything today. Except, you know, leave the house, because I don’t live close enough to anywhere to walk and I can’t drive yet.
Probably, I should be thinking deeply and reflecting on the last fifteen years of my life, but the truth is, I don’t really want to think about it. I want to be happy about right now, not about what’s happened previously. And honestly, I only remember a third, maybe a half of my life so far. There isn’t much to reflect on.
My sister is insisting on baking me a cake (from cake mix, not scratch, of course) and putting ice cream in the middle. Since it’s just our family, I don’t know why she wants to go to trouble of doing that.
You can put the ice cream on the side. Obviously.
Speaking of great things happening on my birthday, the TFiOS trailer premiered! I am so excited! Have you watched it yet?
By this time next year, I’ll have my driving permit. I’ll be a sophomore. I will, hopefully, have finished my book. And I’ll be sixteen. I wonder what else I’m going to do this year.
Guess I just have to wait and see.
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