YOUNG & FREE:

The Little Things

By CORINNE VANCE

Delta Bohemian Young & Free columnist Corinne Vance, age 15. Photo by The Delta Bohemian

What did you get for Christmas when you were 5 years old? What did your grandparents give you on your twelfth birthday? Those things that seemed so important and memorable to me then have now become a faded memory only existing in the pages of old photo albums covered in dust.
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The things in my life that I expected to be of the utmost importance are minor details in the story of my life now. I remember barely being able to wait till the day that I could wear makeup. And when that day came I coated my eyelids with blue and pink sparkles, layered my eyelashes with jet-black mascara and puckered up my ruby red lips looking in the mirror with obvious excitement beaming across my face.
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I repeated the process of applying my clown face every morning for roughly the next year until the thrill faded away and a new obsession began. I couldn’t wait to get my permit. Being in the younger range of students in my class it was torture watching everyone get their IDs before me. I had a countdown in my calendar that started with “A year and a half till I get my permit!!!!!” I waited and waited and waited until the grand day finally came and I could legally drive with someone over the age of 18 in the passenger seat. Hurray!
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Next in my list of anxiety stricken obsessions came my real drivers license, then high school, followed by my highly anticipated senior year, then last but not least came college. Everything I spent so much time fantasizing about in the past was great, yes, but never seemed to amount to what I expected, this is probably the reason why every obsession was followed by another obsession.
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Just the same as all anticipated events that came before, college is great, but not as I had expected.  College is wonderful, fun and extremely eye opening, but it’s still life. There are ups and down with every day. But the best part about college is my new and last obsession, my future life. I am sitting on the edge of my seat barely able to contain my excitement for the life I have ahead of me. It is the most amazing feeling to be thrilled about living.
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When I graduate and reach my final destination in life I am sure I will remember those benchmarks I passed in my life that I had put so much hope behind. But I’ve realized that while those memories fade slowly, the memories of the little things get stronger. The small things that made me who I am, made me smile, cry, dance, and laugh. Those are the things I was actually anxiously obsessing over and I didn’t even know it.
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I couldn’t wait to feel the independence of being able to dress myself and wear makeup. I wanted to feel the excitement of being able to drive. It was all about the feeling that came with the obsession. Then there were things I never expected that at the time barely amounted to anything, but now are some of my fondest memories. The little things! Like having my mom tell me everything was going to be ok while I cried in her arms after having my heart broken the first time. When my grandparents would let me make my own recipes, and eat all of their water, cheese and lettuce soup and tell me it was fantastic. Laughing about absolutely nothing with my friends till we can barely catch our breaths. Finding a guy that can make your smiles last.
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Those, and many more, are the things I am going to remember for the rest of my life. So I have decided to stop waiting for just one thing at a time and to start enjoying the little moments that take my breath away.

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