14th of July 2016. A day that will always live in the memory of my brain as the day, Alice (Me) turned eighteen years old. It was also the last full day of our holiday away in Shropshire for me and my parents. I hadn't heard them putting up birthday decorations in the guest house the previous night, so it was a nice surprise when i walked down the stairs and saw them there, waiting for me to embrace.
My body seemed to have changed overnight as well. My upper chest felt that little bit bigger, my legs seemed to have grown making me taller and a few big spots that had been on one of my cheeks had all but vanished. I was super excited to finally go out and be happy, even if it was only for one day.
The plan was to go to Hay-On-Wye. It was a long drive away but is a village that has the most number of bookshops in the whole of the UK. Simply a bookworm's dream, I knew that I had to go and explore. My family were all for it, wondering at the same time just how many books I would be dragging back in the car with me. I don't remember much about the travels there but it was sunny and after we realised one of the main roads to get there was closed, we all ended up on a long and tiring detour.
As a city girl born and bred, the countryside for me was a little scary. When I was a child, I had nasty visions of crazy cows jumping over walls and trying to smash the windscreen of the family car. Needless to say, it hasn't happened to us yet. Plenty of farm animals and meadows greeted us as we drove for what felt like years. Finally, arriving in the village, I was taken aback.
There were books everywhere, in the shops, on walls outside of shops, in cafes, in the windows of people's homes. I was in dream world. It was a shame that I didn't have an other half to share that experience with. Just two weeks before my birthday, I had been dumped by a former college classmate on the grounds of me owning lots of books made me a hoarder kind of situation. His attitude towards books as far as I know has never changed.
My parents were feeling overwhelmed themselves. There were saying that Hay-On-Wye had far too many books and I was shaking my head back and forth in bemusement. I know for sure that you can never have too many books in your personal collection. We went into basically every shop that was open and taking in all the sights was just a delight.
Time flew by so fast that before long, it was time to turn round and head back to our guest house. On the way, we stopped at this random antique place, that sold books and generally had a lot of cobwebs all joined together. I have a fear of spiders and I saw about... twenty of them, big and small crawling around in a bid for catching flies to eat. The landlady was shocked to see me with an 18th birthday badge on, even with the small body changes I had felt, she still thought I was lying about my age.
I still get age checked for the 12+ movies or even sitting on one of the bar stools in a pub. Some days, it can be funny and others, not so much. On the drive back, I was shocked to see a message from my recent ex wishing me a happy birthday but before I could message him back, he had blocked me altogether. What kind of person stoops to that kind of low? Certainly him. It was sad but I tried not to let his actions get to me. After all, he hadn't gone away on holiday for his birthday and I was making the most of being away.
Back at the guest house, the rest of the evening was simple. My dad cooked full English breakfast for all of us and we sat as the summer day faded away into night-time. Friends had been texting and family calling to send well-wishes. I was finally happy that my childhood days were over for good. Being an adult wasn't going to be easy but at least, my quest to become more independent could start now.
The closing hours sadly bought some tears, of the horrific news coming out of Nice, France. It was heartbreaking and I simply couldn't put the TV on, as the images were far too upsetting to see. My heart and prayers remained with those caught up in the events that took place there. Even waking up the following day, packing my things and wondering from room to room didn't take away the sadness I felt.
Life is a gift, we all hear about new lives being born and old ones fading away but the legacy still remains. Now at eighteen, more doors were starting to open for me. I could get ID for the first time, doing my own kind of shopping both online and at the shops. Most of all, I was the person to contact rather than going through my family, should something at college happen. It was a little stressful, knowing that I was going to have start learning lifeskills on my own.
I'm still learning now, nearly three years on from turning eighteen. My cooking still sucks, I always forget how to use a washing machine and most of the time, I don't make my bed as I get annoyed whenever the sheet pings itself back at me. That doesn't not make me an adult. I am an adult and right now as I'm writing, I'm writing while looking back but also looking forward.
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