My baby daughter turned 17 yesterday. She is a high school senior, going through the college search adventure. She spent the night before her birthday at one of the colleges she is applying to attend next fall. That visit prompted this post...
Birthdays are frequently not the things that dreams are made of.
When we're kids, we look forward to our special day with an eagerness almost as keen as Christmas morning. When you get to be an adult, you learn that to accept the fact that your anticipation is rarely, if ever, actually met. At 17, my daughter already realizes this. But, she had a legitimate reason this year to expect to have some excitement. She would be sleeping overnight at a college campus the Friday night before her Saturday birthday. She would be attending a college party and meeting some new people - very exciting.
It didn't turn out that way, unfortunately. The coed she was paired with doesn't like to go to parties. Oh, they got invited to 3 that evening, but she chose for them to play games in her dorm room instead. Perhaps this was not her normal behavior. Perhaps she felt an overhelming sense of responsibility to take care of her high school senior charge. My daughter says otherwise, that this was her normal Friday evening habit.
Now, I don't care if my daughter got to party hearty with a bunch of college kids, but I do care that she came home feeling she missed out. I'm sure she didn't miss anything at all. But, she was bored instead of excited by her college overnight visit.
So, I feel kinda bad knowing that this is only the first of many, many more birthday disappointments to come. On the bright side, she got a surprise visit on Saturday from summer friends she works with at camp. That was very nice and they traveled far to see her. I hope she learned that it's the friendships we make and the relationships we grow that make life sweet. There will be more parties... I promise.
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