17 and Life After High School
Today, I am 17 years old, and I feel exactly the same as I did yesterday, with one exception. Everybody feels exactly the same on their birthday as they did the day before, and physically I do - I don't feel more mature or taller or whatever it is you're supposed to feel on your birthday - in fact, I feel the opposite of more mature. I feel completely unprepared to be 18 in one year. As silly as it is, I cried in the hallway yesterday because I realized that November 29, 2017 was my last day to be 16. It was my last day to savor the golden age of adolescence, and my last day to identify with the song Jack and Diane . To be honest, I had been feeling a little scared of graduating from 16 and that song for several months. One day in the fall, while driving, I heard the lyrics "holdin' on to 16 as long as we can/change is coming 'round real soon, make us women and men." Even though I usually don't get watery-eyed about 80s music, I burst out into tears in t