Eighteen

Eighteen

Milestone

There is a few big milestones you hit while growing up. You turn 13 and officially become a teenager, then you have your sweet 16, then you finally become an adult and turn 18, and then there's 21, you're the real deal now. Well I have hit one of the last milestones-- 18 years old. While all the previous milestones haven't seen like much of a change, this one is different. This one is big. This one comes with all of the changes. 

Changes

In the next year of my life,  I am going to go through some of the biggest changes that I might ever go through in lifel. I am going to graduate high school, I am going to move away from the place I have called home for the past 18 years, and I am going to start college. I am going to living without my mom to help me with my every move. I won't have her putting all of my events in her calendar so I won't forget, or have her making sure I get my prescriptions. I won't even have her doing my laundry. I am going to start to figure out how to do life all by myself. I'm going to find the detergent I prefer and buy the salsa I like, things I have never even thought about doing until the last couple of months. The next chapter is one of the most important, one that changes the whole story, and I hope it makes my story better.

My Story

Many people you talk to say that your life is only just beginning when you start going through all of these changes. I disagree with that. While I do agree I still have my whole life ahead of me, my story has already started. Just because I am starting a new chapter doesn't mean that the last 18 years don't matter or that they aren't apart of my story. While it was only a small part of my story, it might have been the most important. In the past 18 years, I have grown into the person who I am today. I have learned all of my quirks and bad habits. I've learned my manners and the way to treat people. One of the most important things I have learned, though, is what I value and my personal morals. Throughout my entire life, I will always fall back on the core of my being, and that is the lessons I have learned throughout the first part of my story. Without all of the lessons, trials, losses, and gains, I would not be the person I am. I would not be this version of myself, and all of these changes I am going through might be completely different. So, my story is not just beginning - I am just turning the page to start the next chapter. 

Leaving

Leaving the place I have always called home will surely come with many mixed emotions. Not writing Idaho Falls, ID at the end of my address will take some time to get used to and will always seem weird, but I cannot wait to get out of this town. I won't miss high school like most seniors swear you will, I am excited to leave the toxicity of that behind. I will not miss the wind blowing on every nice day there is. I won't miss everyone talking about me because of what I have had or done. The things I will miss are the things that I will never really leave. I will miss my family, but even though my life is changing, I am not leaving them behind. They are still a phone call away, an easy weekend visit, the place I will spend my holidays. I might be moving out of the house I have spent the last seven years growing up in, but I am never leaving the people who matter the most to me. No matter where I am in the world or in my life, those people are always with me, and that makes my next chapter a little bit easier to start.

Part Two

So while my life is going to change in so many ways in the next few months, I am excited to see what the future holds for me. I am excited to see where I go and what I do. I am excited to meet new people and experience new things. I am thankful for the life I have and everything I am blessed with. I am thankful for the lessons I have learned and the trials I have endured. I am extremely thankful that while I am learning how to be an adult my mom is still a phone call away when I don't know which setting to wash my dresses on. Life is changing in so many ways, but the important things, those things that really matter, will always remain the same. 

-Jamyn