Personal Experience 18th Birthday

From as long as I knew my legal abilities, I could never wait until the day I finally turned eighteen. I couldn’t possibly fathom how I would fit all of the things I wanted to do in one day. I could play the lottery. I could go buy some cigarettes. I could go to a strip club. I could smoke cigarettes at the strip club while I played the lottery. I could even get a tattoo, which was definitely something I always wanted to do. When I realized my birthday, once again, fell on a day of finals, I couldn’t be more excited considering I knew that I would only have a half day of school. But even better, being a senior, I was privileged enough to be exempt from my finals that day. But even better than that, my birthday fell on Friday, meaning I would have all night and then some to have the best birthday of my life.

I wanted to start my day off with something completely awesome, so the first thing on my agenda for my birthday was to go get a tattoo. As I said before, getting a tattoo was something I have always longed to do, so I found it very fitting to go out and ink up my freshly eighteen year old skin as soon as I was able to without parental consent. When I got the tattoo parlor and started filling out that information, I felt a rush of adrenaline go through me. Do you have gonorrhea? Have you used or eaten any products containing bananas or kiwis? Have you received a tetanus shot? Those were some of the questions I had to answer as I was filling out my paperwork. But as I got to the question asking if I had diabetes, I got more nervous than ever.

I immediately pictured myself passing out on the floor and being rushed to the hospital in mid-tattoo. So considering I thought I was going to pass out, I ate so many caramels before I sat down thinking it would be a good sugar rush, but surprisingly, the second the needle touched my skin, I was absolutely fine. I think when Melinda saw my reaction, she was expecting more out of me. I myself was expecting more of a reaction out of me. It hurt far less than my preconceived notion. So after a long and boring hour and a half of feeling my ribs vibrate from the constant pressing of the tattoo gun on my skin, everything was done, and there was an amazing tattoo on my body.

After getting my tattoo, we were on our next adventure to go get Tanner from DeSales and meet the girls at Applebees. Melinda and I of course got lost on the way, but after arguing with Tanner about which stop sign to make a right at after we got to the cafeteria for what seemed like forever, we found our way to his residence hall. Melinda and I planned on just picking Tanner up, possibly grabbing a few of his friends, and going, but our plan was foiled by typical drunken college kids. So after a good half hour of listening to them argue about who was sober enough to drive themselves to Allentown, we finally left. And after another ten minutes or so, everyone decided that they would rather just go back to their rooms and get drunk, so we all had to turn back around and start over, this time with just me, Tanner, and Melinda in her car. Finally on our way, Melinda and I were both harassed by our impatient friends who kept constantly texting us the whole way making sure we’d be there soon because they were starving.

And once we got there, neither Melinda, nor I were even hungry and we all sat at an awkward table of five girls and one Tanner. Then, as you all probably experienced before, the embarrassing part emerged. All of a sudden I heard the always recognizable restaurant birthday chant coming my way. But nevertheless, I was flattered that my friends would set something up for me like that. Well, I mean, I’m flattered that Melinda would set something up for me like that considering I know the girls wouldn’t put that much thought into things. But anyways, they brought me some ice cream which I barely ate because I still had no appetite for anything. Then when it was time to go, Kaylee, Ashleigh, and Carrie left without a proper goodbye and Melinda, Tanner, and I all hopped into her car ready to take Tanner back come. I somehow had a really good time.

After dropping Tanner off at DeSales, Melinda and I realized that we were without beds to sleep in for the night. We both knew the Arnold household was an option and that the girls were sleeping there already, but we opted against that after the fairly awkward dinner, still without any plan of where to go. So throughout the drive home from Center Valley, we were throwing ideas back and forth to each other of potential overnight residencies. Nothing seemed too appealing to us considering Melinda wasn’t in the best of moods and was pretty tired from a long day. We planned on just crashing at one of our houses until I jokingly said that we could sleep in her car up at the Knob for the night. Melinda, who always seems to take my jokes too seriously, didn’t shoot down the idea like any logical person would, but questioned it and how it could possibly work out. I wasn’t sure if I even took my own suggestion seriously, but after we talked about it, it seemed like a great idea and an awesome way to end an already good birthday.

So after a whole mess of plotting, we thought of all the possible consequences of our plan, and then decided that we really didn’t really care. We figured that the most we probably could have gotten in trouble for sleeping in her car. So since we realized it would be a long, cold, night, we thought up a list of things we would need. Melinda mentioned that she had a box of wine stored at Ashleigh’s and it would be a good way to um, keep us warm for the night. So we stopped by the Arnold’s and went back to my house and gathered all the other necessities: tons of blankets, sweatpants and sweatshirts, candles, my laptop and DS, food, some wine glasses, and some MadLibs. Afterwards, we began our voyage up to the Knob. Though it took all Melinda’s poor little Honda Accord had, we eventually made it up to the snow covered parking lot. We parked close to the entrance in fear that we wouldn’t be able to get out in the morning if we parked anywhere else.

Then, we set up our beds for the night spreading out our blankets, getting into comfortable clothes, lighting our candle, and pouring out two large glasses of wine. It was seemingly the most romantic night I have ever experienced with anyone and of course, it was with my best friend. One glass of wine and an hour and a half later, a big black pick-up truck zoomed into the parking lot and drove directly to the back. That doesn’t seem too unlikely considering it’s a public place, but imagine how scary it would be if you were two defenseless girls at two in the morning. We were far more than paranoid. So after an very long half hour of spying on the guys in the truck and wondering what they possibly could have been doing, they finally decided to get out and walk up the mountain.

Then we moved the car where we would not be visible to them in fear if they came back, they would chop us up into pieces for witnessing some sort of murder or something. After that, everything seems to be a blur to me. Many wine glasses of wine later, well, actually a whole box of wine later, Melinda and I did our usual routine of calling almost everyone in our phonebook, especially all the boys. I only really remember bits and pieces after that but the next thing I do know, one of Melinda’s friends from work was in the backseat. Then I also remember throwing up, passing out, not being able to respond to Melinda, then waking up again to three more boys crammed in her backseat. It was certainly an interesting night.

In the end, looking back on that whole day makes me realize that that was probably the best birthday I’ve ever had. I didn’t even do anything that was outrageously special, but I really don’t think it could have been better. I spent my entire day with my best friend and I wouldn’t have changed one thing about it.