Eleven years ago today, I remember counting down the minutes until I turned 10. I was so excited to finally be able to say that I lived for a whole decade. I remember going around they house telling my siblings wisely: “Well, when I was your age” or “When I was born TEN years ago…” I thought I was so cool. The idea of getting older couldn’t be any more exciting.
Here we are eleven years later. I’m at the point where I forget when my birthday is approaching, and staying up this late is actually hard. Getting old doesn’t feel the same as it did eleven years ago. When I was ten, I pictured my twenty year old self as someone completely different from who I am now. I thought I’d be driving a fancy car, and wearing stylish clothes, and going to college (probably to be an astronaut) in some fancy city. I didn’t think about mistakes I’d make, or challenges I’d face, or dreams that would change. I didn’t even think about how college students are stereo-typically broke, so I guess it’s my fault that I didn’t see that part coming. Most importantly, I didn’t think about what my walk with Christ would be like. Or how He probably wasn’t going to take any of my plans for myself into account. He was writing a story for me so beautifully and wonderfully created, and I was silly enough to try and help Him with it. Year 20 in reality was full of old car problems, t-shirts, and art projects, along with unexpected opportunities, interior house paint, moving boxes, and plenty of Chinese Drive-thru restaurant adventures. Through all of these things, the Lord has taught me to trust, love and pray. And I am so thankful for every imperfect and crazy moment that I’ve had so far.
Now that I’m 21, (this blog post has taken me about an hour and a half to write) I can’t say that I counted down the minutes to this point. I also can’t say that I will be counting down the minutes to my next birthday either. I will be enjoying the moments and the lessons that God has given me to shape who I am as a person. Not that it will always be easy–the lessons that I learned through the beginning of high school and college were definitely the hardest. But I will be living this crazy life through the plan that God has for me. Only 9 days until training camp and 3 months until launch. Let the adventures begin.
