Article: TURNING NINETEEN (@graiceamunt)

 

Now I know most of y’all reading this are above or probably below nineteen. I beg with you to read this as though you’re soon turning nineteen in a few days. You with me?
I am writing this five days before my nineteenth birthday and if you do not know me yet, I am called Grace Okogwu and yes, I’d soon be turning nineteen, September 23rd. I decided to write this piece to share my fears, happiness, sadness, and excitement as time runs rapidly to my

19th birthday.
Like  most  teens, I am also undergoing that stage of change_wanting to be independent and all that, wanting guys to tell me that I am pretty, wanting to be that perfect teen everyone looks up to, wanting answers to my numerous questions and lots of other wants. However, unlike most teens I am cowardly because I do not live the YOLO life and I think too much about things; even the slightest teeny detail. So, question: am I actually writing about myself? The answer: no, I’m not writing about me (that would take like millions of pages) and am guessing that at some point you would be bored. I am merely expressing some of my feelings as I’m about turning   nineteen.
I’m so scared that in a few years’ time, I’d not be able to achieve a lot with myself. I’m happy because rapidly I’m growing (into a woman). I’m sad not for me but for the world; the hardship, corruption, evil_for those 18 year olds who are not alive to witness their 19th birthday. I’m excited because turning 19 happens once in a lifetime and (yippee it’s almost here).
I’d love to say that on the 23rd of September the weather would be lovely, the moon would be full, all your wishes granted, all kids would be safe, all animals warm and love reign in our hearts but i am not God and so all those might be impossible. There might be an earthquake that day, or your best friend could travel to the other end of the world and people might die...after all it’s only normal of this world for evil and anguish but at the end of the tunnel, there’s definitely a Light.
Finally, I would like to make a toast on my birthday to all Known and Unknown, all teens, nineteen year olds, parents, rebellious teens, good meaning citizens, the poor, destitute,babies, those born on September 23rd, and finally to You reading this. I am not perfect but a fragile, lost in my own thoughts, challenged by success, normal, sometimes insecure and optimistic teen. I am the kind of girl who when hungry in school, would soak garri and imagine I was licking ice-cream.  PEACE Y’ALL
GRACE OLUCHI OKOGWU (AGE 19) ff @gracieamnut or bbm2A1DE635
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