Twenty-seven.

In about seven minutes, it will be my birthday.  

June 17th, 2009.  

In the last year, I've lost one of the most important people in my life to a car accident. . . but not before telling her that I've always wanted to be just like her as I stood before her and a small crowd of scholarship donors in a private room of a fancy restaurant as I read my thank you speech for the 21st Century Scholars Society scholarship.  

In the last year, I've developed a deep love for the German language, and a strong desire to continue learning it.

I've watched the ball drop in Time Square on New Year's Eve with two of the best friends I could ever ask for.  I'd do it again in a second, despite standing outside shoulder to shoulder with thousands of strangers, with frozen extremities due to the two degree weather.  

I've watched in awe as two more of my best friends brought the most perfect child into this world.  I've marveled as they instantly became the two most loving and nurturing parents I've ever known.  

In the past year, I've made the incredibly difficult decision to let go of someone I love, and let her make her own mistakes, instead of trying to take the responsibility of trying to shield her from everything.  

I've fallen head over heels in love with Chicago.  

I've suffered from moderately deep depression and insomnia.  

I've felt my heart ripped out of my chest at the news that my uncle was in a terrible motorcycle accident, and utter relief when he began to slowly progress and heal.  

I've learned that a real friend will always be  there when you need him with a shoulder for you to cry on, and just the right words to encourage you to keep moving on, no matter what.  

The past year has held tragedy and sorrow enough to blanket my world in shadow, and joy that can move the tallest mountains of the land. 

I've learned that all of these things are a part of life.  

My twenty-sixth year on earth was the hardest one I've endured so far, but as I enter my twenty-seventh, I'm a little stronger than I was before, and perhaps a little wiser, too.  I'm more self-aware, and I'm better equipped to handle the bumps and potholes that lie ahead.  

So, here's hoping that next year, I'm still holding my head high and learning from every high and every low that comes my way.  

Happy birthday to me.