How to Celebrate Your Birthday in College

Dear Josh,

            Okay, so I realize you will never be in this situation considering your birthday is in the summer break range. However, I was thinking that if I told you the perfect way to celebrate your birthday weekend in college you could help out some of your friends. You know, the friends that don’t have a sister as cool as me writing them a tip-blog! Good idea, right? So, let the tip giving begin!

            I was a TON nervous about my birthday this year, Josh. I know it is kind of dumb to be nervous about your birthday, but I just knew it was going to suck. I don’t have family here, I have barely had time to make any friends, I’m in the middle of nowhere Kentucky, and lots of other things darkened the prospects of my birthday weekend. So, when the twenty-fifth came I was avoiding excitement. Let me tell you, I should have been pumping up my excitement quite a bit more. My 18th birthday weekend FAR exceeded my expectations. So, now I know how to make a birthday wonderful in college, and I can kindly share with you and your soon-to-be-college-buddies.

Step one: Wake up with your door decorated by three of your newest friends. Trust me, if the door has popcorn bags, signs about all the things you can do at age 18, and colored cardboard attached to it? Your day is off to a WONDERFUL start.

Step two: Give your wonderful grandparents a tour of all the best college spots to hang before going to lunch with Jonathan, Grandma Carol, and Grandpa John. Get an extra-complicated meal because it’s your birthday, laugh so hard, and talk until your voice is fleeting. Seeing family a few weeks into college adds an extra jolt to any day. 

Step three: Purchase a fish with your loving mother, well, don’t purchase the fish yet. Purchase an empty tank and hope to get a live fish in there shortly. While your at it you should train the entire tank of neon fish to follow your finger. If you can train them in less than a minute? They are worthy of that empty fish tank. 

The cake the softball team got for me and my birthday buddy!

Step four: Play Softball. Okay, so this could actually be taken out for most extra special birthdays, but just remember that on your birthday you are guaranteed to make at least one run! GO TEAM J

Step five: Go out to dinner with some goofy buddies and eat until you explode. (It's a bonus if they can't get the Applebee's people to sing to you). Then piece yourself back together for an intense movie night. You can stay up until 3 am, after all, it IS college.

            I also added an extra special date step to my birthday, but I’m not sure you could handle that step and I am therefore excluding it from the official steps. However, a trip to Patti’s Settlement with Jonathan did add that extra bit of smile (and full tummy) to my birthday weekend. And there you have it! How to get the perfect college birthday in 5 simple steps! There wasn’t any sex, drugs, or rock-n-roll, but we DID stay up until 3 am J J

This meal was delicious. Yes, there is bread...in a flower pot?

This is the first time we filled up on gas since we've been here. Can I get a woop woop?

Our reservation wasn't until 9 pm, so naturally we had to stop at a hick grocery store to grab some wings. Naturally.

Love,

Maddie the Birthday Girl

P.S. You also get a ton of awesome mail on your birthday! In college? Mail is awesome!