19

Let us celebrate the occasion with wine and sweet words.

- Titus Maccius Plautus

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Yesterday I turned 19. I felt exactly the same as when I turned 18, which is also how I felt when I turned 17. I had a quiet birthday at home, a drastic change from my parties when I was younger, drowning in the ball pool of the sticky, kid-infested gymnasium that is Chuck-E-Cheese.

I scrolled through the many birthday greetings on Facebook, and I found it incredible. All of these people I’ve met in my life took the time to wish me a Happy Birthday. Sure it doesn’t take much to say it, and maybe some did it without a second thought, just another monotonous chore of Facebook, like poking or ignoring creepers. But even though I know this I can’t help but feel somewhat appreciated.

Going through the names reminds me just how much has changed. I had friends whom I did everything with, and now we barely talk online. People who before going to college were just a profile picture to me, are now people I can honestly say I love with all of my heart. People are always coming in and out of my life, recycled almost, and its always been like this since as long as I can remember. I guess it just hit me now seeing all those names on my wall.

But as I continue to move forward in my life and my best friends of today become my acquaintances of tomorrow I wanted to say something before it’s too late. Before no one cares if I have a happy birthday or not. Before people forget where they even knew me from.

No matter how much you think I don’t remember, how busy I may seem, how different i’ve become, or how distant I will become, just please know one thing. If you were ever my friend, I care about you, and I will always care about you.

Winding Down

The setting sun, and music at the close, As the last taste of sweets, is sweetest last, Writ in remembrance more than things long past.

- William Shakespeare

The setting sun, and music at the close, As the last taste of sweets, is sweetest last, Writ in remembrance more than things long past.

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I am alive. I am happy.

My days seem a bit brighter, my smiles a bit bigger.

And why shouldn’t they, summer is so near I can almost taste it, and I have great friends to spend it with.

I reminisce.

Driving through Chino Hills, it seems like every block holds a memory.

I ate pizza there with my soccer team.

I cried waiting to get picked up on that curb.

I held hands going down that sidewalk.

This is my whole life right here, nestled between a few major streets.

Nostalgia is inevitable walking across campus. From open classroom doors I hear my old teachers still lecturing the same crap, still cracking the same lame jokes.

I remember so much.

I remember walking into a junior science class freshman year thinking it was IPS.

I remember watching a fight break out at the lunch tables.

I remember all the people getting asked to every dance,

and getting rejected.

The sun called high school is beginning to set. It’s no longer something beating down on me, nothing to sweat over. Now it’s beautiful, that perfect glow behind the horizon, something you wish everyone could see. Something you want to cherish until the very end.

People are already getting choked up, especially with yearbooks going around, but there’s still so much more left to do.

So let’s put off the tears, there will be plenty of time for that later. For now let’s just enjoy it. Let’s just make a few more good memories. After all,

how often do you get to see a sunset this beautiful?