Friday, February 25, 2011

The Moon Upon A Stick

I turned 22 last Monday morning.
I wondered for weeks beforehand what I'd buy myself for this landmark, what Last Doll-type item would transition me from Birthdays to The Day Every Year That I Was Once Born. A veil? A dramatic haircut? Something that wasn't a present.
Chuckle at my solemnity, go ahead, smile knowingly at the unearned age I am loading onto myself, but it really feels as though I have been projected into ageless space. Up until now, I savored every birthday, waited for them in the morning, planned them, felt them, smelled them coming. When I turned nineteen, I felt nineteen. Eighteen scurried off immediately upon my waking. When I turned six, I felt six. When I turned fourteen, I unfortunately felt fourteen, and it felt uuuuuugly.
I've always been very uncomfortable about pictures of myself, and shied away from them being taken unless I was smeared in sweaty stage makeup or had at least one fist in my mouth. If there is a picture of me looking directly at the camera, I'm usually grimacing, or guffawing, or smiling and popping my hands.
It's embarrassing, but I practice (and often) the habit of bringing pictures of myself up onto the computer screen. I stare at myself, getting close to the image, looking at my face, at my teeth, at my eyes. At all of them together. I wonder where I am, in there.
If you friend me on Facebook, you'll notice that I am grimacing like an overexcited baboon in a good number of the photos tagged of me. Do you all feel comfortable in your own skin? I certainly haven't, up until recently. Up until the last few months.

This February fourteenth I smelled coming as usual, but it didn't smell like a birthday. It just smelled like a day. This confused me. I've always anticipated my birthday for weeks beforehand, self-importantly glowing at the piles of red and pink cellophane and the candy cropping up in grocery stores towards the end of January. I've always picked and taken home a birthday shirt each year, and laid it out on the chair next to my bed, I've waited for balloons to show up in my room early the next morning, and daydreamed of cheese enchiladas and chicken chimis from Los Hermanos until arriving there at five pm to avoid the date rush, and I've expected twice the birthday messages than your average person receives throughout the day because my birthday is on such a miserable, lovable holiday.

Last Monday morning, it was Valentine's Day again, my birthday.
And I woke up, and instead of feeling twenty-two, I suddenly just felt like me.
Twenty-one didn't scurry off into the recesses of learned lessons, but it also didn't do a flashy dance in the front of my mind like it's been doing for the last year.
And that was that.
And that morning, I decided to buy myself something that would remind me how comfortable I gratefully feel with myself.
And something that would remind me of who I was when I was 22.

(what I ended up purchasing for myself was a chronicling of me, feeling like myself. At 22.)
(a huge thanks to Justin Hackworth, the most genuine human being one ever met, for shooting me, looking like myself, at 22.)


best plan ever, here.

14 comments:

Kayla said...

I hope there comes a day when I feel that comfort of just being myself. I thought I was getting close until I got pregnant and my body changed so fast I couldn't keep up. Perhaps 22 is magical and in the next couple months I'll sink back into my own skin. Thanks for sharing beautiful writing that makes me think.

MedSchoolWife said...

Julie. Look at me for a second. I know you can't, but pretend you are.

I. Love. The photo.

One of the most raw and moving and vulnerable things I've seen in a very long time.

Diana Smith said...

WOW you are so beautiful!! That picture is just amazing! Justin is so dang talented!! Happy 22nd!

Chelsea Michelle said...

What and EFFing hottie you are. Come back to me and the days that I am still stuck in of having stage makeup smeared on my face and not feeling like an epic hottness. I LOVE YOU! hahah

Mikaela said...

You are so pretty! Happy late Birthday! My cousin/best friend just turned 22 on Vday too! & she goes to BYU, I wonder if you two have ever crossed paths her name is Tiffany Browning. Anyways, great writing.

Lanée Jensen said...

Call me a lesbian but I'm putting it as my computer background. Ow OWWWW!

sabīne said...

humpf, i hope that there will once come a day when i`ll feel happy about myself and just feel like me.
i`m happy for you.
and you are beautiful. :)

Anna said...

Julie, I have ALWAYS thought you are beautiful! And I miss you...

Claire said...

I feel so great about this idea! I turned 22 on the FIFTEENTH and felt very similarly to what you've said here. And I certainly didn't feel like I looked 22.
I can just...relate.
You solved it with this, I think. Way to proclaim your womanhood.
Love this. Happy day of birth.

Brittany said...

holy smokes. ho. ly. smokes.

you are a good gift giver.

Haley said...

what an amazing picture. i'm really, really happy for you.

Andrea said...

Love you, love your photo, love your blog.
Srsly sis, you're fabulous.

Trevor Christensen said...

I saw you Tweeting at Paige and I said to myself "That is a photo by Justin." Then I blog-stalked you to investigate.

Unknown said...

Love it!