"Change can be so constant you don't even feel the difference until there is one. It can be so slow that you don't even notice that your life is better or worse, until it is. Or it can just blow you away, make you something different in an instant. It happened to me." - Life as a House
We can't deny it: change is abundant and unavoidable and real. No matter what kind of person you are, your circumstances and experiences will have the power to shape you in some way, even to the smallest degree. And no, you might not recognize those changes right away, but those around you will eventually be able to see the person you are about to become. One day, you too will have that "aha!" moment, when you realize that you are no longer that wide-eyed child or jaded teenager, but in fact someone entirely new. Or, at the very least, that you have deviated somewhat from the person you always thought of as You.
Nelson Mandela once said that when you return to a place unchanged, you begin to see the ways that you yourself have changed. Tonight, when I met up with my friend Kevina for frozen yogurt at one of those new self-serve shops, I realized just how true that was.
The frozen yogurt place was brand new, but the plaza where it was located was not. In fact, it was a place my friends and I frequented throughout high school, one where you could find the hipsters, cheerleaders, and wannabe gangsters all coexisting quite peacefully. Anyway, as I waited outside for Kevina to find parking, I took a look around and was eerily reminded of a not-so-distant time. Gaggles of fifteen-year-old girls being dropped off at the front in their mothers' SUVs. The formerly heartthrob "bad boys" hanging around by the crosswalk, unsure of where to make their next move. The awkward young couples who are still getting used to holding hands. A few kids here and there taking a drag off their cigarettes, trying to look as though they've done it all their lives. And my favorite, the four fashionista Mean Girls who were probably in middle school, texting away on their Blackberries and flipping their hair over their shoulders.
The sights seemed all too familiar to me, but at the same time I felt like a total outsider. And in many ways, I was. I mean, technically it wasn't too long ago that I was in high school and I liked my own bad boy, or that my mother dropped me off outside the Barnes and Noble. But in the one year since I was a part of the whole high school food chain, I realize that my priorities have changed. My mindset is completely different. I'm not the same person. Okay, so I'm a nineteen-year-old girl who still cares about boys and friends and appearances, but if life away from home has taught me anything, it's that I'm more than that.
And I'm happy with who I'm becoming. : )
awwwwww! i was smiling throughout the whole post. AND i am so FLATTERED that you mentioned me! hahaha. :P
ReplyDeleteonce again, I AM SO HAPPY FOR YOU! i think it's great that we can mature so much in only one year and to feel that change. it makes me wonder how it'll be like when we look back at ourselves now, three years later. i feel like a completely different person as well, and maybe part of the reason for that is because we are now a lot more independent of our parents and we're just trying to find out who we are as individuals. i've always kind of thought of being "happy" as being able to please my parents and maybe even getting that "bad boy" too (lol), but i'm just now realizing that i'm much happier discovering things on my own. ahhhhh. this post makes me happy. :)
Of course I would mention you! : ) I'm glad you liked it! Thank you so much... it really is crazy to think how much has happened in the one year we have been away, and how much could possibly happen in the years to come. We'll probably look back at our old blog posts in 2012 and laugh at how naive we were in 2010. :P
ReplyDeleteI'm happy for you too. I think you've gone through a lot of good change too, and we've both really gotten the chance to grow up!