Post #221

I will be 21 in 22 days. (And that picture doesn't have a whole lot to do with this post except that it looks celebratory. Also I love her face)
I realized today that I've been thinking of the age of 21 as a kind of death.
Mostly because being 21 will mean being a missionary
And since I can't seem to mentally prepare myself for what that will feel like,
I imagine I will probably be dead by then.

Am I making any sense?

It was the same thing with college.
I always said I was going to go to college
But as the time approached, I decided college was something everyone ELSE did
And I would probably never make it.
Something would happen before college came along, to save me from going through with it.
Life would come to a standstill. So I could get off.
And wave at everyone else as they passed.

But I learned very quickly that life doesn't stop for anyone.
And it only slows down when you don't want it to
Like during my two-hour block classes right before lunch.

I'm sure before I know it I'll be wearing the badge

Soeur Larsen
L'Eglise de Jesus Christ
des Saints des Derniers Jours

And riding my bike around France.
And then somehow I'll be home again.
A return missionary and a graduate
just like that.
Still alive, still me, just older.

Anyway, my 21st birthday is just barreling towards me.
21 in 22 days.

Time to start ordering my birthday gifts ;)