Birthdays

I'm awful about remembering to post happy birthdays on here...atleast I remember them at all anyway (most of the time!).

This one, even though it's belated, is worth posting. My little cousin Amelia, who lives in South Carolina, turned 16 on Monday! She's a great kid, smart, pretty, and I'm pretty certain she has a good head on her shoulders. She puts on eyeliner like a pro, something I really admire! She's a really really awesome, championship winning, softball pitcher! This is a very exciting birthday!

Sixteen is such a big deal...I remember being there and it's such a bizarre age to be; you're expected to have the 'teenage' thing figured out, but people also expect you to start 'acting like an adult'. Peer relationships become super important whether it's your friends or a boyfriend and you really rely on those people...and sometimes that leads to lots of hurt. You start discovering who you really are as a person and asking questions about life. You begin to realize that sometimes your parents are wrong about things. You start getting to DRIVE by yourself! You have to start dealing with peer pressure to an even higher degree than before. The idea of college starts to come into play a bit more...there's just so many things that teenagers around that age have to begin dealing with and it's hard to imagine my little cousin being at that point in life!

She's only 7 years younger than me so I realize that I was turning 16 not too long ago....but I still feel a bit protective of her at this stage. I guess it's because I'm young enough to still remember being that age pretty vividly but old enough to see the adult perspective of the kids that age...two very different views!

So, Happy Birthday to Amelia...Good Luck too! I wish you love, a heart that's hard to break, good judgement and the ability to respect those that deserve it and the ability to recognize those who don't.