The End of an Age (aka: 18 year old friends are great too)

This past week I lost my 17th year of life, and my family dog. (it's okay if you laughed at this sentence, I actually chuckled when I wrote it, but really, it was a hard week.)

I turned 18 on April 24, which just feels so unrealistic. I am the baby of my family, and it's so strange to realize that even I am now a "legal" adult.

The day before my 18th Birthday one of my favorite people and best friends- Ashley, took me on an all day adventure to celebrate the close of my 17th year of living. The best thing about this girl? She and I have twin souls so when she plans something I know we'll both love it. We are the never-grow-up-in-love-with-peter-pan-let's-be-five-year-olds-together-for-life type of friends. We wouldn't have it any other way. So we drew with chalk, ate spaghettios and PB&J, put rolled notes in a bottle and threw it in the creek, painted flower pots and so much more. It was perfect :) Then on my birthday she sent me a text which read, "Breathe. It's just another day." instead of the typical "Happy Birthday because she knows my heart and she knew I wasn't rejoicing inside.


Despite the perfect day,I actually laid in my bed the night of April 23 watching as my clock ticked through the 11:40s, and dreading each shift of the numbers because it was something I couldn't reverse, couldn't change, couldn't stop. Thankfully, the dread wasn't too long lasting because of encouraging friends and my family who taught me that they don't change, even with my age. 18th year friends are just as good as 17th year friends.  One friend listened to me rant about the whole dread of Birthdays thing...and talked to me about pointless things (one of my favorite things to do) for 45 minutes on the evening of April 23. Then she proceeded to send me super long encouraging texts right as the clock struck midnight! She even made two embarrassing fb posts about me and made me feel ridiculously special and loved. Sarah Cline is her name, and she is a favorite of mine.

Another friend held me on the phone from 11:45 to 12:00 giving me wonderfully cheesy reminders such as, "It's the start of a new novel, Abigail!" just so she could be the first to tell me happy birthday. Another reason she's the perfect friend? On my Birthday she willingly competed against me in a mento-and-coke-in-your-mouth-together challenge and wasn't even a sore loser when I beat her twice. I love her. Her name is Rylee, she is also a favorite.

April 24, 2015 dawned bright and early...to all appearances a normal day, I woke up, went to school, etc. My friend Claire however, ensured that it was far from a normal day. This thoughtful friend sent me a picture and long text every hour which were from a memory of us together. She did this for 24 hours. As each hour of the day I had so dreaded struck I found myself excited and checking my phone to see what precious memory I would be reminded of this time. Also, evidence of how close we are is that she had to "narrow it down" and pick which memories she would us. She and I have only known each other for 2 years! That is who Claire is. The most loving, caring, girl. She is precious. Also? She caught my hints I had been dropping the day before and only wished me a happy "second 17th birthday." I don't think she ever uttered the word 18 my whole birthday!

After my morning class the sisters (big and middle) and my Grandma took me for a birthday brunch. I literally jumped out of my chair when the waiters and waitresses started whooping, and singing to me! But I felt incredibly cherished and loved by those three women who had summoned them.

Not to mention all the overly-kind texts, calls, and fb posts/messages, you people are rock stars.

Seeing Rend Collective, Tenth Avenue North, and Chris Tomlin, plus having pool parties at 1 in the morning, and pei wei for lunch with these crazies wasn't too shabby either.
Huge shoutout to ERin Laroe for coming along even though she was losing her voice, introducing me to hte wonders of Plato Closet and all around makng my Birthday way more sunshiney and happy because that's what she does.


I NEVER thought I would say this, but 18 is going down in the books as a memory-making-beautiful-sunshiney birthday after all.



But none of this ultimately changes the fact that I am, in fact, an adult now. That's definitely causing some weird emotions for me. Just as I was thinking I might be okay with it, my dog who has had cancer for a while now, hit an ultimate low. We got her when I was about 7. She has lived at three of my seven homes with me, and we have almost lost her multiple times: She barely survived parvo as a puppy, then one time she ran away-we gave her up for lost before finding her at the shelter 3 months later. Although she was outdoors and not pampered, I have taken care of her for many years during which she brought me many laughs and some heartache. The hardest thing is that she's just always been there. She's been right outside the back door ready to give me kisses and melt my heart with her one brown eye and her one blue eye. Basically, She's a link with my childhood. That same childhood that "legally" just ended. I guess what Rylee said about the 'start of a new novel' wasn't too far off after all.

 I always thought I loved change...I still think I do. Sometimes though, change is irreversible and that is when it scares me the most.

Don't assume from this post that the future is dull or depressing though, far from it! My next post (one I have been needing to write for a while now) will be addressing that future and you'll see that I'm actually pretty stoked about it. :)

This verse puts a little perspective on the emotions I've been letting out during this post. Paul reminds me why none of this is actually as big of a deal as my head likes to make it, while reminding me why it is good to keep pressing on. I'm not just pressing toward the little goals and landmarks I set for myself though; I'm pressing on through life because I have an ultimate goal-the prize of the call of Christ which is upon my life.

"forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." (Phillippians 3:13-14)

~Ab