This will be our year, took a long time to come

(All photos by me. What I'm wearing: dress - Urban Outfitters, tights - Target, heels - Payless, hat - my grandmother's, sunglasses - my dad's Ray Bans from the 80's)

I stared up at the little metal canister, looking at my distorted face in its reflection.
“But daddy, it will be forever until I'm 18!”
My dad smiled down at my 7 year old self.
“Don’t worry; it will be here before you know it. And then you get to open your time capsule.” He patted the canister. It read, “To be opened by Juliette Sicard on April 22, 2010.”
“What’s inside it Dad? Tell me, please!”
“Well, it’s nothing valuable, it’s not car keys or anything,” he laughed.
Well that destroyed my theory. Maybe it’s filled with jewelry or money or something…
“I guess you’ll just to have wait and find out.”
Back then 2010 seemed so far away…so far into the future.
And now that day has arrived.

When my twin sister and I were born, our parents put together a time capsule that we would open on our 18th birthday. Yesterday, after having dinner with our family and my boyfriend, Cliff, we finally opened our time capsules.

It was filled with trinkets from my ancestors and baby items from when I was little, items containing history from my past and my family's.
The hardest thing was reading letters from people who aren't with us today, family members who planned on sharing this day with us. It was very emotional to say the least.
There was a Zippo lighter from my grandfather, brooches from my grandmother, great-mother, and great-great-mother, pins, stamps, rings, baby booties, pearls, coins, a key, and a tape my dad made.
All in all, it was quite magical opening the time capsule.





Beautiful antique owl bookends from my boyfriend:



But opening my time capsule isn’t the only perk of turning 18. Here’s a list of some of the activities that I can do now that I’m 18:

Get a tattoo or piercing
Go to jail
Vote (I will have to wait until 2012 for this one)
Buy a pack of cigarettes
Change my name
Become a stripper
Buy a house or car
Skydive
Join the military
Visit a porn site
Buy a monkey (I’m not making this up)
Sue somebody
Get married
Buy a lotto ticket
Adopt a child

So there are lots of fun things to do now that I'm officially an "adult".
I definitely don't feel like an adult yet. I haven't had that climatic moment when I feel like I'm ready to be on my own, to exist in this world as a fully functioning, independent person. I'm still in my coming of age stage, I'm still in the middle of my bildungsroman (isn't that a fun word to say?) and my character hasn't learned that important life lesson yet when they've finally matured and grown as a person.
Or maybe it's already happened and I just don't know it.

You never feel like your age on your birthday, but you don't feel like your previous age either.
I don't think it really hits you until the middle of the year, that's when you finally realize how old you are.
Regardless, the fact remains that I'm 18 years old now. I can move out of my house if I want, quit school and get a job. But I'm not ready for that. There's still more growing up for me to do.

I just want to thank to my sister, boyfriend, friends and family for making this day special, people who love me and care about me, people who are happy that I was born today.
Oh, and I hope everyone had a great Earth Day.