The Big One Eight

         Well, it’s official. I’m an adult. Yesterday was my 18^th birthday, but in all honesty I don’t really feel much different. I still live with my parents, I still go to school every day, and I still enjoy hanging out with my friends doing nothing productive on the weekends. This is the case with every birthday I’ve had so far, though; it feels as though not much has changed. This birthday was kind of a bummer, officially graduating from being a child. The realization that I will be leaving the town I have known for the past decade and a half for college in a few months has really started to sink in, and it’s kind of bumming me out.

            I’m definitely ready for a change of scenery, but that doesn’t make it any less difficult to leave behind my old stomping grounds. I am so comfortable in Reading- the people, the restaurants, the traditions- I know them like the back of my hand. Because of this going off to college will definitely be bittersweet, but I’ll be back for Thanksgiving and Christmas vacations, so it’s not a farewell as much as a see you soon. Regardless, I know I am ready to move onto the next stage in life. School has grown kind of stale with its lack of independence in some regards (seven hours of mandatory class every day). Also, at this point my grades really don’t count for much so there’s minimal motivation to keep me going. My friends and I have also really burned through everything and anything fun to do on the weekends, so we’re all ready to go live it up at college instead of driving around the town aimlessly with nothing to do. My eighteenth birthday itself was nothing special, but it definitely made me think a little more of the impending change my life is about to embark on.