Birthdays can be good and sometimes they can be terribly awful, it’s all how you look at it. What’s your perspective on your past birthdays?

I remember when I was a kid I received a present that I didn’t like so much but I saw my family all crowded around me so I politely said thank you and still showed them that I appreciated their generosity. I guess they didn’t know at the time that I don’t like video games. Wait, maybe it was one of my brothers who picked it out and convinced my mom that it would be a great present. I’ll never know.

I recently had my birthday on Dec 18th, it seems so weird having a birthday so close to Christmas, but then again, that’s all I’ve ever know so maybe it’s not so weird being born a week before the hype day.

As I am now reaching adulthood it is all so new to me, I wonder when I officially graduate from being a “Young adult” as everyone says, hopefully soon.

The thing is, I kind of like growing up, you get trusted with more things and I find that people respect you more. I want people to take me serious with my job so it’s kind of neat growing old. Sometimes people try to look a bit younger by doing their hair a different way or trying to talk all hip and cool but I find myself trying to do the complete opposite. I am going through a faze where I sometimes want to try to look older so when I go speaking at a school with Keep It Real I won’t have teachers stopping me in the hall saying “Ok, should you be in class?” well, I think that only happened twice but still.

As a skater girl I often find myself wearing skate hats and skate shirts, maybe it’s that whole skater look that makes me young, I’m not sure but as the days go on I find myself experimenting more with trying to look old, using different kinds of make up or new earings, even changing my speech around other adults at the appropriate times. As I lay my head down on my pillow at night to sleep I am confident in who I am no matter what I wear, no matter how people look at me, even on the days I forget to “act older.” I’m not one of those girls who cares so much about my weight or if I have enough shoes to go with every outfit.

I know that I am beautiful in Gods eyes and he sees us all as sons and daughters of a King. Think about that for a second. You are Royalty, You are a child of someone really important. Don’t let anyone steal that away from you. It’s a relaxing feeling knowing that God is crazy in love with us.

On a side note, I have realized a sign that shows I am getting old because I am finding myself saying no to free plane tickets? What is wrong with me? The Laura before would have said yes within a second to opportunity’s like that, but now I sometimes feel tired more than normal due to all of the traveling, I know that I can’t do it all. Why is this happening to me? This feels like a midlife crisis, even though I know it’s far from it. Or maybe this is actually a sign of maturity and I’m looking at this the wrong way. Maybe it’s good to say no once and while and not run all over the country. Maybe I should start to look at it that way.

What are some of the challenges you are facing as you are growing up? I still have a lot of things to learn and I don’t regret learning them the hard way. When you go through the hard times you have to hold on tight and squeeze Gods hand tighter than ever before. To everyone out there that had or have a birthday this year, Happy Birthday (haha of course everyone has a birthday this year).

—————————————————————————————————————————————-laura

Laura Bronson is co-founder and director of Keep It Real, a youth movement which
uses the mediums of skateboarding, graffiti, and rap to tell the stories of a God who is alive today.