After the recent months, I felt down. I was 25 going on 26. I am working full time, working on my thesis for my masters, trying to keep friendships, and worrying about money. Who am I? What am I? What am I doing? How do I go up from here? All thoughts I was thinking. Then a visit to New Orleans happened.
My sister planned this trip a while ago. It was for her fiancé's 30th. I was invited to go with them and a bunch of women to NOLA for a weekend. Normally I would think "I don't have money. I can't take off work. I can't." Then I thought "I am going." We booked our flights and then some personal moments happened. I lost myself again.
I was wondering who I was becoming. Then I said, "Someone awesome."
The flight was terrifying. I don't do well in heights. I was scared and crawled my fingernails into my seat. When we finally landed in Atlanta, I was tired and hungry. I walked with my sister to a fast food chain. While standing there I said to my sister, "Wasn't he on Ru Paul's Drag Race?" Why do I know this? Because I pay attention to important things. We stopped Ginger Minj and giggled and took a selfie. While giggling we walked back to our terminal and our friend who just moved from Philadelphia to D.C. saw us. My sister planned this with her a long time ago. None of us knew she was flying directly to NOLA with us. We hugged and I got a little bit of peanut butter throat (feeling when you are about to cry) out of joy. I was with a group that I cared about and they cared about me.
Our AirBnB in NOLA was amazing. The two floor, three decks, kitchen, living room house was what we needed. We chatted with the neighbor who rode motorcycles and came from Brooklyn. She now lives in NOLA.
We went out to bars that night. We laughed and laughed and asked people to show us their butts instead of boobs. No luck and we laughed even more.
The next day the rest of the group came in. We walked around a graveyard and took spooky pictures. We were tourists and that was completely ok. We need tourist moments. Who says you have to be stylish all the time? After awhile I bought a gold cape, because it was Vacation!
When we finally got to experience the nightlife after a long Uber ride, I had to pee. I had to pee so badly I ran into a burger stand and ran into a women's single stall bathroom. Yes, now I realize I should've waited longer, but when you gotta go, you gotta go. An employee kicked the door open and I yelled, "I AM SORRY!"
I left giggled and relieved. We watched the parade happened and it was the greatest feeling. Giving strangers high fives and saying "Good job" was a game me and a friend made up. I wore a gold cape and laughed. I was with a group that was doing the same thing I was; experiencing.
We worry about what experience we have on a resume. We worry about being cool on the internet to impress people. Maybe being cool is just about experiencing the most. That is what I am going to do; experience the most. I am going to take pride in my work and every moment of life. The heartbreaks, the highs, the lows, the giggles, the randoms, and everything else in between. I am going to make the most of 26 because #ThisIs26
