In 23 years...

By Alicia Jaimes

Friday, June 16, 1995
I've been told  I was a quiet baby with big, dark brown eyes who spent the majority of infancy quietly looking around, trying to take in this big world. Life was so simple yet so complicated.

September 2004
We were the big dogs in a small school. It was 4th grade and I was well on my way to becoming the next famous singer-songwriter. I had life all figured out and the best of friends by my side.

June 15, 2008
My first heartbreak.
I remember listening to “I don't wanna be in love” by Good Charlotte, curled up in a ball trying not to cry as my best friends told me happy birthday at midnight. Young minds amaze me. Curious and courageous and  desperate to know love. I was fearless. That night I learned that's not always a good thing.

August 2009
Freshman year. Fresh start. I lost friends as they found themselves and discovered new ones who I’ll never forget. Life was good.

April-May 2013
My fearless heart found and lost love once more. Grasping for the past while being pushed towards the future. I found myself fighting at home and crying at school and vowing to never search for love again.

November 2013
And when I wasn't looking... I found him.

August 2014
I became a bulldog for life and decided writing is my life.

June 16, 2018
Sifting through the memories, I struggle to remember the tiny details that used to consume my world.
In a way, I miss it, and in a way, I don't.
Today, as a 23 year old soon-to-be college graduate, my relationship with my family has grown and evolved past the adolescent bickering, and my personal life has taken a turn for the better.
I remembered how nervous I was when change would come along. “Things will never be the same,” I'd think. Little did I know that as the world around me changed, I would soon follow, and everything would be okay.
For once in my life, change isn't the enemy, but a friend who sometimes knows you better than you know yourself. They affect you, make you happy, sad, frustrated, but they always know what's best.
Now I know what has happened until now was for the best, and I'm sure I'll say that again 20 years from now.
Until then, I plan to welcome change with open arms and see what happens. It's a terribly exciting feeling, but I am 23 and if life has taught me anything so far, it is that I am fearless.

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