My 18th Birthday in Review

In Western culture, the 18th birthday is a major marker of one’s coming of age. With a newly received status of adulthood- and the legal rights you gain with it -the celebration of one’s 18 years on the planet serves as a sort of rite of passage. For most Americans, this significant milestone occurs before entering college or post-high school plans, unless you fall into the group of those whose birthdays are in the later months of the year. While this may come as a surprise to you, my dear reader, I fall into this category. The universe was blessed with my presence on October 3rd, 2006, making me, while writing this article, a new member of the 18-year-old community, an adult, or as commonly joked, “freshly legal”. Creepy connotation aside, my 18th birthday was a fun, albeit hectic, event, if not a little bittersweet. Being away from my family and friends back home for the celebration of my first step into the giant staircase that is adulthood was initially a bit hard to grapple with, and becoming an adult, at its core, is as terrifying as it is exhilarating. Despite this, I’d like to focus on the more positive and comedic aspects of my birthday. Turning 18 in college is a unique experience, so to those of you who will undergo this, I hope to create a sense of solidarity, going through a tumultuous transition during an already big change in one’s life. As for those who have turned 18 before entering college, hopefully I can provide you with a sense of what this experience is like! Of course, everyone’s initiation into adulthood will inevitably be different, so ultimately, take from this what resonates with you. 

The Pre-Birthday Planning:

To accurately provide you with a sense of what my 18th birthday was like, we must start before the actual day. Prior to my special day, my friends posted on Fizz (college social app) the image you see above. When randomly scrolling through my phone gallery one day, I came across a meme I saw a few years ago of a billboard in India celebrating a man named Rakesh’s birthday, encouraging those who see it to wish him a good day through his number provided. Inspired by this, I joked to a friend of mine that I should edit it to add my name, and replace the number provided with the inscription that one could celebrate my birthday by requesting “fnaf song” on Rockbot. For those unaware, the “fnaf song” refers to “Five Nights at Freddy’s” by acclaimed artist Miatriss. This masterpiece of a song was played once in the dining commons at Mount Holyoke, and ever since has become a sort of inside joke amongst my friends and I. Due to this, I thought it would be funny to inform other Mount Holyoke students that they could wish me a happy birthday by requesting this song on Rockbot, the app used to suggest and play music in the dining hall. 

To my great surprise, the Fizz post had been reposted several times, and various peers of mine recalled seeing it while on their daily scroll on the social platform. With the amount of outreach this had, I imagined the song would be played a great deal of times. Despite this, when walking into Blanch on the beginning of my first day as an adult, no music could be heard. Rockbot had been shut off. Initially, I assumed this was just for breakfast, and besides, who would want to hear the fnaf song played that early in the morning anyway (aside from myself), so most Mount Holyoke students would request the song in the afternoon, right? To my great dismay, this was not the case. Not because students didn’t request the song, but because Rockbot was still off. In fact, it wouldn’t be turned back on until the next day. I wonder, was this because of the widespread nature of my Fizz post? Was this an act of subjugation from the Blanchard staff? Questions of this nature flooded my mind, but ultimately, I don’t think I’ll ever know the answer, and even if the Blanch staff was conspiring against me and my Fazbear ambitions, could I really blame them? They work incredibly hard to maintain a clean, organized space filled with nutritious and delicious food for us daily, the least they deserve is not to hear a song about an animatronic pizza bear repeatedly. While my dream of the fnaf song playing over and over wasn’t fulfilled, I realize in hindsight that it was an unrealistic request, and that the bountiful amount of people who posted and upvoted my Fizz meme is the truly beautiful thing to come out of this situation. People came together to support a silly birthday wish of mine, and while it wasn’t achieved, the real wish granted was to see the Mount Holyoke people unite on a cause together, and for that I am eternally grateful.

The Cake

One of the most vital aspects of a proper birthday celebration is the cake, or main sweet treat of your choice. For my 18th birthday, I knew I needed to have something special, so at the recommendation of a friend, I ordered a cake from the Carefree Cakery in Amherst. Words cannot express how wonderful the staff were there, and I greatly recommend it to not only anyone looking to order a birthday cake, but also for individuals who like to indulge in a sweet treat every now and then. I ordered a strawberry cake, one adorned with pastel and dark pink flowers around the top of the cake, and as beautiful as it looked, the taste was even better! Truly, a cake as amazing as this could make up for any other less than savory aspects of my birthday– and as you’ll see, there were quite a few of those. 

The Party

As mentioned earlier, my birthday (or more specifically my birthday party) could be characterized as hectic. As much as I’d like to think that I am a hostess with the mostess, my management of the party could be provided as evidence to the contrary. This party was my first attempt at mixing different friend groups, and for the most part, my friends intermingled well together. The issue was the sheer amount of people at the party, with my pals not being the quietest of people. Overwhelming amount of noise aside, the true highlight of my party was the powerpoints guests presented. The main (and frankly, only) activity at my birthday party was powerpoint night, which, for those unfamiliar, is when a group of people make presentations about anything they’d like. For my party, these presentations ranged from a ranking of our friends based on how likely they were to commit vehicular manslaughter to an analysis of the fanfiction “Speedy Redeemer – A Lightning Mcqueen x Jesus Fanfiction.” I thoroughly enjoyed all of these powerpoints and definitely recommend this activity to anyone! 

The Realization

It was only on the night of my birthday that I realized that I am now an adult. The sweet joys of childhood are over, and now I must figure out what I want to do with my life in order to leave an impactful mark on this world….and pay taxes now of course. However, as an 18 year old, I am still a teenager, so the pitfalls of adulthood probably won’t set in until I turn 20, or if anything, when I graduate college and must pursue a career. Despite my new status as an adult, I ultimately feel the same as I did before, and I imagine it felt or will feel similar for you, my dear reader, on your own 18th birthday. When reflecting back on my birthday, I realize the greatest aspect of it was my friends, who made me feel truly special. The staircase of adulthood is tall and intimidating, but we’ll all make it through– as even with all the trials and tribulations of life, when you’re surrounded by people who make you laugh through silly powerpoints or Fizz posts, you can get through anything. 

 My 18th birthday, for all its faults, was the best coming of age ceremony one could ask for, a true rite of passage, and I hope for my peers who are still 17, young and sweet and dancing queens, to be able to enjoy a similar celebration when their time comes. 

• 18th birthday
• Adulthood
• birthday
• college
• coming of age