My twenty-first birthday was not as exciting as it could have been. My birthday is on Valentine's Day and I wore a red dress on a cold night to dinner and a comedy club with some friends. I had two drinks the entire night and in total I only spent $5 to tip our Safe Ride driver for driving us home, even though we were all well below the legal limit.
I had a good night with many people who I wanted to be with. I chose an Italian restaurant to eat at and we went to watch a ventriloquist talk about why love sucks on Valentine's Day night. I had a good birthday.
However, since I turned twenty-one, just over nine months ago, I have had more experiences going out with friends and buying alcohol in general. That being said, the night of my twenty-first birthday pales a bit in comparison as far as fun, (potentially) memorable nights go. I think I would do things a bit differently now, if I were to turn twenty-one again. I'd have a bit more sloppy fun with different people. But that's not to take anything away from my birthday. I did everything I wanted to do. Now, I just think what I want to do wouldn't be the same.
The twenty-first birthday is actually only such a big deal in Western culture, anyway. The majority of countries in the world do not place such emphasis, nor waste so much money, on the "coming-of-age" moment that is being able to purchase and legally consume alcohol at twenty-one years of age. It's really just not as big of a deal anywhere else in the world as it is in America. More important is the focus on another year of life experiences and understanding gained, another year of both formal and informal education under my belt, another span of time showcasing my growth from one year ago to now. That's the stuff that really matters. Not paying $16 for a new horizontal ID that allows me to buy a beer at Applebee's.
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