Change

Ten years ago:
My best friend was Amanda
I wore Kelly's Kids jumpers with tights and a turtleneck underneath every day
My hair came past my shoulders and was usually in two french braids
I thought about sea monkeys, computer games, and kickball
I had never kissed a boy, they had cooties
Sports were no fun because I was not fast enough

Five years ago:
My best friend was Kendra
I wore black
My hair was shoulder length, dyed several different colors usually worn in a dowdy ponytail
I thought about imaginary worlds, pens and pencils, and hating everything
I had never kissed a boy. Boys were cruel and frightening.
Sports were to be avoided

Now:
My best friend is Andrew. Kendra moved to Texas and Amanda lost her personality to the dangers of private schooling
I wear American Eagle and Abercrombie and Fitch
I just cut 18 inches off my hair. It falls just below my ears at it's longest.
I think about school, God, boys, friendship, sex, music, fruit, my career, society, the economy, government, germs, being healthy, exersize, what I look like...
My best friend is a boy. I've kissed a few. I enjoyed it.
Sports are soccer, cheerleading, biking, swimming, and dance.

In talking to a much older, but very dear friend the other day we recounted many similar life experiences. I am always surprised when talking to him that we are so similar considering that he is ten years older than me. In the midst of one of his stories reguarding something he did when i was about seven years old, I was suddenly overcome with a thought that I couldn't help but proclaim aloud.

I am so young.

My life has hardly begun, yet, I look at the last ten years and consider how much I have changed. I am a different person.

Change is a funny thing. Some of us embrace it, others try to pretend that it's not real, and that it does not happen to people

I know girls who change their hair cut/style/colour every couple of weeks and women who have had that same cut/style/colour for thirty years and will probably keep it for the next thirty years. (I confess that I am the former)

My own life has changed so much and so fast that I must embrace it or go mad trying to avoid it.

I look at all I have done in the last ten years.
Pierced my own ear
Watched anime
Lost friends
Made friends
Learned to like nuts
Become a vegetarian
Discovered my identity
Laughed
Danced
Learned how to kiss

And I think of what I might do in the next ten
Finish college
Pierce my own ear again
Get married (maybe a boyfriend first)
Begin my career
Eat meat again
Learn to love someone else completely
Laugh
Dance with a partner
Discover more about the world

A hundred years ago rock and roll had not been invented.
Fifty years ago rock and roll was evil.
Today rock and roll is old school.

Change happens whether we're looking for it, longing for it, wanting it or not.

Life is defined by change.