Seventeen Going on 18

Many teen movies I watched growing up always seemed to focus around one birthday in particular: the sixteenth birthday. To me, 16 seemed to be the age of freedom and the turn of a new leaf in life. There was nothing like someone’s Sweet 16, and the movies never let you forget that.

Growing up, I thought that day would be the birthday of all birthdays, but I think I was wrong. While gaining the ability to drive was monumental, the day that will be coming up soon seems to completely overshadow that feat.

Turning 18 I’m sure will feel no different physically, but mentally, a lot will change. I will gain many new responsibilities and rights I haven’t had before. The biggest one, of course, will be voting, but that won’t affect me much until the next big election. I will also be able to do things such as join the military, get married and sign certain documents. These things aren’t something I plan to do just because I’m turning 18, but there is something different about just knowing I am able to.

The shifting mindset of those around me is another big thing. I won’t be any wiser on my first days of being 18 than I was during the last few days of being 17, yet, when I will tell others I’m now 18, I will be seen in a new light. It may not be a huge change of view, but it’s still weird how being one year older changes someone else’s view of you.

Being 18 is especially hard to imagine, because ever since I can remember, those in my life have wanted me to never grow up. They have wanted me to enjoy my childhood, but thanks to those coming-of-age movies, I wanted nothing more than to be a teenager. My mom used to say to me on a daily basis, “Let’s get to the end of today and worry about tomorrow when it comes.” That is all I can think about now when those very same people who never wanted me to grow up can’t seem to stop talking about college and my future. I sometimes wish time would stop and I could go back to elementary school, where all I had to worry about was if my colored pencils were sharpened.

Now that my eighteenth birthday is right around the corner, I wish there had been more movies made about this birthday, because it seems a weird age to be. Young people see you as grown up, while older people see you as still wet behind the ears. It really will be different, I suppose, but maybe there is a reason they never made many movies about turning 18. Maybe, unlike sixteenth birthdays where you get the first taste of independence, being 18 is about learning independence isn’t all it’s cut out to be. I don’t think anybody wants to make movies about that.

Sometimes, slowing down and enjoying life one day at a time is enough for me. But I guess I won’t know what being 18 is like until I get there.

I’ll get to the end of today and worry about tomorrow when it comes.

Lilly Johnson is a senior at Charleston High School in Charleston, Mo. She has lived in Southeast Missouri most of her life and loves to travel with her youth group, jam to musicals and BTS, and paint during the late hours of the night.