Got my 'big girl' license :)

So, I went to the license bureau today (Thursday the 20th) to renew my driver's license because it expires tomorrow (technically I suppose today, at the time of writing...) on May 21st on my 21st birthday! As i was getting ready to go, and looking at my old license, I began to ponder about how much I have changed in the last five years. Wow, that's a long time. I can remember waiting at the Berea DMV, before it closed, to get my picture taken for my license.

Then:















Now:














Analysis:
I have the same crazy awesome curly hair, except now it is cut a little differently, after I found my hairdresser who knows how to cut curly hair and gave me some tips on how to manage it. I still wear hoop earrings, but they are much smaller. I can't really tell, but I think I had braces back then, and I don't now. I've perfected my signature a little bit - it's not as 'fresh-looking' as I think the original is. And, I decided to be an organ & tissue donor. I've known that for a while, but when I was sixteen and they asked me all I said was "I don't know." So, they put that as a no. But I know for sure that I do now. (Public service announcement! Do it! It can save tons of lives!) Other than that, I look pretty much the same. No name/address/physical characteristic change, and it is still issued in the great state of O-H ... I-O. And I still drive the same car (no, it doesn't have a name).

But I also know I am not the same person inside. I'm five years older... which is a huge 23.8% of my life (as of now)! I've driven the streets of Berea and northeast Ohio, graduated from high school, survived 3 years at CMU. And in less than 48 hours I will be on a plane to spend the summer abroad. Crazy! At the same time, the years seem to just fly by. I can remember those times, back in high school. And I'm thankful for the ways I've grown and changed - I have matured, learned life lessons, made new friends, gone through different experiences.

I'm exited to see where I will be in 4 years, when my license expires again, when I will be 25 years old. God willing, I will hopefully be in medical school, on my way to becoming a doctor. And who knows what other crazy things? I'll have spent a summer in Argentina, graduated from CMU, and after that... I'm not sure! But we will see and I will trust in God's plan for me. And, at the risk of sounding morbid, if I don't live to see that day, then Christ will have come to take me home and I'll be there singing His praises, and hopefully a few lucky people will have some new (O+, Rh+(i think), HLA type?) organs or tissues. ;) Or, I guess I could have switched states and gotten a new license which expires at a different time. Huh.

Anyway, Happy Birthday to me! I'm officially legal now and therefore have no more 'important' birthdays until my 30th... or so they say. :D

Peace!