Seventeen

So it's my birthday tomorrow.

Ever since I was 10 years old, I have always made it a ritual to do something awesome the day before my birthday. Something as more of a parting to another year of life and a transition into bigger and better things moving on into maturity. I started by pulling my first all-nighter at 10 years old, and here I am about to be 17. I had a hard time thinking about what to do this year, really there's only so much you can do. I thought and I thought, and then I finally decided to do exactly what I had been doing that entire time. For the big event this year, I decided to recall how his entire year has been for me. A year is quite a bit of time, allowing for so much to happen. There's been a balance of positive and negative, and really the sweet 16 has been less sweet more tame. But now that I think about it further in depth, I have nothing to be upset about.

It's going to be a fresh start.

I began what is considered the start of my true teenage adolescence in a bit of a slum. Things were hard, honestly. I didn't think much of the new start. However, I was lucky enough to be able to hold on going into the future to begin the most memorable summer of my life. I'm absolutely grateful to have some of the greatest friends in the entire world to share some of the best memories I have to share, and still enjoy reminiscing to this day. That summer simply invigorated all of my creativity and desire for freedom and harnessed all of that energy into the fantastic time I had during that time. Band was amazing as always, meeting new people and being able to again share more experiences with great people, especially my current band director Mr. Freesen. He's completely invested into his students, and that spoke wonders to me in welcoming me to a new year.

Then school started.

Junior year caught me in a rut. I bit off a lot more then I could chew. This led me to slip a bit in my performance, which upsets me. I know my potential, and it makes me angry with myself that I haven't met it. School did introduce me to one person who has played a super important role in my life - my girlfriend. Whether I've shown it too much or not enough, she really has helped me through the entirety of this journey. I'm not often too public with my relationships, but she deserves more than I can credit her for. She's cared for me in the lowest of my times, she's been spectacular in all that she does. We've gone through some rough times, but what relationship doesn't? She's been one of the most important people to be in this last year. I'm so glad to have her. I really hope you know that, dear! There's another person I really have to credit also, now that I think about it. Not just for this last year, but for my entire life.

That's for next time though.