I turned 16 years old on December 17th in 2003. It was a Wednesday, which meant we didn't have to go to school till 9:20 a.m. I woke up and was taken out to breakfast by my two friends (at the time) Jason McNew & Kendall Pearson. I had been dating Jason early that year but had only recently broken up with him. I would eventually date Kendall as well, though the relationship would end in a horrific way. They were acting weird, saying that we couldn't go anywhere that took a long time but wouldn't say why we were in such a hurry. We ended up going to a doughnut place and feasted on doughnuts and chocolate milk.
When I got home, I found my room had been epically decorated by my two best friends Heather Smith & Danielle Butler, with some help from our other friend Lindsay Clarke. Heather, Danielle, and I had this thing where birthdays were a big deal and we'd always try to outdo each other in what we could pull off. We had to stop around age 17 because it got too ridiculous and expensive. They had enlisted the help of tons of friends, family, strangers, etc. to cut out hundreds of paper snowflakes of various sizes and had them hanging from the ceiling. They also hung white bedsheets over the walls to make everything seem like a winter wonderland. But the most amazing thing they did was cover the floor (albeit, I have a small room but still) knee-deep in shredded paper. I am not even exaggerating. They went to businesses and asked if they could take their shredded paper to be the "snow" in my winter room. It was incredible.
That day my mom checked me out of school to go get my license. After it was all said and done, we walked out and my mom wanted to get my picture by the car. However, in all the excitement, we took my picture by the wrong car. We had a great laugh about it. It was later that evening that I discovered that the Toyota Corolla that was my dad's car was now my car. Seven years later and she's still my Babygirl. She now has 192,000 miles on her, along with plenty of dents and scraps but I love her. She's never let me down.
It was 2004 when I turned 17. I don't remember what we did on my birthday but I remember the day after. I was dating a guy named David at the time. My best friend Danielle was dating a guy named Trevor. Us four decided we were going to go to Temple Square that night. Trevor lived in Bluffdale so we were going to pick him up along the way. The only trouble was we, David, Danielle, and I, got stuck in bumper to bumper traffic before we even got to the point of the mountain. However, this did not damper our spirits in the least. We had the windows rolled down, Christmas music blasting, and just goofed off. We talked to the people in the cars next to us and tried to cheer them up.
Even after we got Trevor and got back on the freeway, the traffic hadn't cleared. But we didn't care. We were having a blast. By the time we got to Temple Square, we only spent 20 minutes there before it closed. As I was driving everyone home (the traffic had all but disappeared by then), I noticed I was the only person awake in the car. Trevor and Danielle were cuddled up in the back and David had fallen asleep still holding my hand. I remember feeling this wonderful sense of love and peace for these three people. Danielle was my best friend and had been for nearly four years then and Trevor made her so happy. Danielle and Trevor ended up getting married, which I was fortunate enough to be a bridesmaid at their wedding. Their three year anniversary will be in January. David was my first love. He made me ridiculously happy. I couldn't think of a better way to spend the day after my birthday.
My 18th birthday was the worst birthday of recent memory. My entire family came down with some sort of flu bug and was too sick to celebrate. I was the only person who wasn't violently ill, so my parents gave me money to go out to eat with David. We were still dating and had only just passed our one year anniversary two months previously. We went to an Indian place called The Bombay House. For some reason, David and I were fighting about something. We hardly ever fought but we made up for lost time during this fight. I don't even remember what it was about. We were just angry and irritated with each other. The relationship didn't last for too long after that, maybe three more months at the most. Like most relationship where there was real love and passion when it was good, it was a horribly messy break up filled with hurt feelings and words we didn't mean.
I have little memory of my 19th birthday. The only thing I really remember was a gift I received. It was from my dear friend, Brian. He gave me Fight Club, both the movie and the book. I've since watched the movie hundreds of times and read the book even more. Fight Club was the first book by Chuck Palahniuk that I read. I've since read everything he's ever written, with the exception of Fugitives and Refugees, a book I can't seem to get my hands on.
My 20th birthday is similarly a blur. It was only a few weeks before I was to leave to go teach English in Russia so my presents all were in preparation for that adventure. I got my Canon powershot point & shoot camera that I still have today. I've taken thousands of pictures with that camera, including my trip to Russia, my trip to Canada, all my adventures in Cedar City, my assignments in my Intro to Photography class, and many more. I also remember my friend (and recently ex-boyfriend) Gus gave me the t.v. series Wonderfalls. We had watched the series during our very brief relationship. He also gave me a nice notebook to write in when I was in Russia.
I honestly don't remember a thing about my 21st or 22nd birthday. I know it was my 21st birthday that I got my Blackberry from my parents and my friends Amber McNew, Ashley McNew, and Paige McGuire came over. Other than that, I can't remember anything special or significant. This is kind of upsetting to me.
Two days ago was my 23rd birthday. It was pretty awesome as birthdays go. My family had dinner together, pizza from Nicolitalia Pizzeria, which is my new favorite place to eat. My cousin and his family came over. He and his wife have two kids, a 2-ish year old named Carter and a new baby named Juliet. Cute, cute, cute family. For presents, I got a sleeve protector for my laptop (so I won't borrow Kathy's anymore), some Victoria Secret lotion & body wash, and a new charm for my necklace. But the best gift was my awesome new saddle bag. It is freakin sweet! I love it.
After we had cake and ice cream, I jetted over to my friend's apartment building where the lovely Mary Buynak had thrown me a karaoke birthday party. A bunch of my friends were there. Usually I shy away from all things karaoke but everyone was getting really into it and having a great time. I didn't feel self conscious in the least. Seeing the two Doyle brothers, both big guys, serenade us with "Dust in the Wind," and seeing Josh Keele turn "Sweet Caroline" into a rock performance of the ages made me laugh until I cried. I even did a little ditty for the audience. Christina Freeman and I sang "What I Like About You" accompanied by some sweet dance moves. To say I had a blast would be an understatement.
Love you.
Mean it.
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