Celebrating My 21st Birthday

Most birthdays you can find my twin sister Madison and I crowded around a cookie cake celebrating arm in arm. Unfortunately, today we’re states apart, celebrating our first birthday—and a big one at that apart. It’s also the first one I’ve spent away from my home and it feels… different. 

my twinnie girl

I never expected to be spending my twenty-first birthday across the country from everyone and everything I know. Instead, I sit in a new state. A new apartment. Surrounded by new furniture. More excitingly, I sit surrounded by new beginnings. 

Thankfully, we celebrated our special day last Sunday. We met up with the Manions for dinner at our favorite local restaurant, The Hornets Nest. Surrounded by the same tacky wall decor, eating the same average french fries we eat every weekend.

Afterward, we went over to the Manions for frozen margaritas and mint juleps. We sat on the screened-in porch until the rain called us inside, huddled around the couch. We opened presents— a pair of Raybans and a white Lululemon fannypack from my parents. I’ve never been so excited to receive two gifts! I packed both instantly. Another Lululemon fannypack and a Collen Hoover book, Verity from my grandma. I read the book in its entirety on the plane ride here. 

We sang happy birthday as I cut open cookie cake and Madison her favorite Carvel ice cream cake. It’s the same way we’ve been celebrating birthdays for as long as I can remember and yet the familiarity of it all feels so homey. So right. 

Twenty was a year of immense growth for me— many lows but many, many more highs. Moment of comfort and exhilaration and life. I can only pray that 21 allows me to see as many sights, meet as many strangers, laugh with as many friends, and feel as many emotions as I did this past year.

Cheers to another year of doing life with you! I can’t wait to see how this chapter unfolds. 

All my love, McKenz