"Nobody likes you when you're 23."
- Blink-182, 'What's My Age Again?'
Two hours ago, my 23rd birthday came to a close. I can hardly believe I am 23 years old, but here I am, sitting on my bed at 2am writing a blog post, 23 years old.
My birthday did not start the way I wanted it to; in fact, I'd venture to say that I felt awful when I woke up this morning and was immediately irked that I felt as such on my birthday. I suppose I was expecting to wake up well-rested (which was ludicrous, considering I went to bed around 4am the previous night) and hop out of bed and sing songs to some cartoon birds and eat a delicious breakfast fed to me by Emma Stone, Emily Browning, Emily Blunt, or any actress named Emily, and have a shining day full of "...because it's my birthday" moments set to a happy soundtrack. My morning had exactly zero of these traits. Thank God.
How very lucky for me that I am not in control of every event in my life. In fact, I am in control of very little indeed. But again, lucky for me, I have people in my life who are always there for me when I need to get over myself and shut up.
And that person on this particular birthday was my roommate, and one of my best friends, Brittany.
I woke up to an empty apartment, had my little hissy fit to myself about how it's my birthday and I shouldn't be tired and the internet shouldn't be slow. Brittany came home with some bags from Target, a story about how she splurged on some new clothes, and open ears to my whining. After I mentioned that I'd been born twenty minutes from that moment, Brittany had an idea that changed the course of my day.
"What if you take a shower and get out when you were born?"
"Like a rebirth?"
"Yeah, that way you could start your day over."
"...I'm gonna go strip down to my placenta. See you when I get out of the shower womb."
And it worked.
I trimmed my beard and put on clean clothes and ate some Cheerios and got over myself. I realized that I was so consumed with the arrogance of trying to plan my day to make everything perfect that I was heading down a path that would make it not even close to enjoyable. Thank God for humbling friends.
My birthday adventure was simple, but wonderful. Brittany and I spent the day shopping, splurging, talking ourselves out of buyer's guilt, and eating Chipotle. I got new movies, CDs, books, and clothes. I got a full stomach. But most importantly, I got to spend hours with someone who has become one of my closest friends over the past year. (Not to mention, when I got out of the BirthShower this morning, she had the first season of Adventure Time, a mix CD, some candy, and some glowsticks waiting for me in an adorably colored bag.)
After we got back to the apartment, I finally completed Final Fantasy VII (a game I'd spent hours playing over the years, but never had actually beaten) and watched the first two Paranormal Activity movies with Brittany and Rhiannon, another close friend of mine.
And here we are. 23, sitting on a bed at 2am, writing a blog post. After I post this, I'm going to upload a song from my almost-finished EP. I'm going to change into my pajamas. I'm going to go to bed. And I'm going to continue thinking about how I need to love more and stop being so full of myself. I guess some things never change, but thank God for never giving up on trying to teach me the universal lesson: love.
So here's to another year. May it be full of love and living for all of us. Thank you for being in my life so far, in one way or another.
Love,
Adam
"It's 17, 18, 19, routine, and here at 23, it's the same old me."
- Relient K, 'Maintain Consciousness'
