...another year is almost here

My birthday is almost here again.
Wow.
Honestly, it seems like yesterday that I turned 16. Already the Christmas decorations are engulfing Costco and Dollar Tree. I'm about to start a new year. A new year on the calendar and another year on my age count. 17. I thought that day would never come.
Last Christmas was one of the darkest times of my life; and to be honest I was dreading '10. I wanted more than anything to skip this year altogether and just get.on.with.it. I was tired of sitting around the house accomplishing nothing. If I only had a drivers licence! I could spend all day volunteering and running errands for my mom and making a difference! I was 15, physically capable of just as much or more than a woman twice my age. I was [thought I was] mature enough and mentally capable of a lot [not as much as a woman twice my age; and less than I would have wanted to admit--- but a lot]. It almost killed me to spend my free-time doing stuff that just seemed so...worthless. Dishes. Laundry. Algebra?! No. I was not changing the world. 

But boy, am I glad I didn't get my wish.

Not only did I pull out of my low place, but I have grown so much this year. I will admit, I have a bad case of know-it-all. But boy, my eyes have suddenly flown open and I would not give up what I have learned over the past year for anything. Gleanings. Worldview class. Long talks with mom and dad. Random books I never knew existed. Apologetics. Irreplaceable friends cheering me on. And my Bible! Holy cow. Who knew there was so much useful stuff in that book?!

All in all, let's just say I've had a good year. I've realized that there is a season for everything. Just like I wouldn't want a 5 year old to start using the eyeliner pencil, I probably wouldn't have been too hot with the car keys at 15, no matter how amazing I thought I was.

So '11 is almost here. The year I've waited for my whole life. I've counted the days until I got a job since I was 12. Finally start putting money away for school and a car. And I'll have my drivers license. I'll finish school. As I used to put it; life.begins. Finally. Lord willing, all these things will roll around eventually this year.
But really- who would I have been this year? Who would be be in high school without middle school? College without high school? Without all this time I 'wasted', I wouldn't be anything like who I am now. And the laudrey and the dishes? Well, those are middle school tasks. Needed for the future and shaping me little by little. Now, just gotta make sure and remember that next time thanksgiving clean-up rolls around...
So I thank G-d for the lows and the highs. For the times of fast-paced 'advancement,' And times that drag on...and on. And on.

And most of all, I learned about this new thing. It's called; patience.
Aubrey