Tomorrow Signals Forever

November 2, 2009
08:23 pm

Hours from now, the night would now wane into a new day, like it always does. But, tomorrow would be different. Tomorrow would not be the same day like any other day that I wish to end. Part of me is reluctant to wake up to that day, but a better part tells me to look at the adventures in store.
Tomorrow I say goodbye to my childish dreams of flying like a superhero and fighting off bad guys, or even dreams of growing old. Tomorrow, I say goodbye to the boogeyman in my closet or the ghost underneath my bed. Tomorrow, I say goodbye to my dreams of being a child, a kid, and a pre-teen, who would always babble over senseless clichés and fuss over random faux pax.
Tomorrow, I would once again leave a part of me behind my past, thinking of ever looking back at it again. And tomorrow, dreams of me becoming a prince charming saving a damsel in distress would now be put to its halt and would remain as a fleeting memory of my insecurities.
When the clock strikes twelve, and when I open my dew-laden eyes, I think I would now be looking at the whole world with a new perspective, viewing a farther horizon on what I once can see for the past seventeen years of my life.
Yes, tomorrow, I am turning eighteen, branded as a young-adult – a new member to the adult population of the country, and another insecure, inferior and pimple-marked teen who just went out of his sheltered cocoon, waiting for the things that would be thrown at him of the so-called life.
I am eighteen tomorrow. And the dawn of the thought isn’t hitting me right now. Perhaps tomorrow, when my friends text me their greetings, or they ask you for a free treat, that the idea of me turning a year old would smack me squarely in the face. But tonight, as I exhaust of what is left of what I think is my talent in writing, the truth is quite elusive; evading my thoughts of entering adulthood, evading of what would seem as my idea of being a man than a boy.
I am thankful that tomorrow, I survived yet another mortal year; surviving yet another game of hide and go seek together with death; and surviving yet another encounter with God’s judgment day.
I am thankful that I live.
I am thankful that I got a really nice family that just does what a family does.
I am thankful that I got the best set of friends, both from La Salle and my province in Bikol.
I am thankful that I got to meet a lot of people who help me build a puzzle of who I am.
I am thankful that I am in one of the best schools in the country.
And I am thankful to God that I still am alive for the past eighteen years.
It’s not everyday that I write about what is running around in my mind, and it’s not everyday that I turn eighteen.
Tomorrow, when I wake up, maybe, just maybe, the facts about my birthday aren’t going to hit me straight in the face unless I’m already eating noodles which my mom would cook for me.
Tomorrow, I say goodbye to a fragment of what I call my seventeen year-old memory, and would say hello to my new 18 year old memory.
Happy Birthday John Mark, and I wish you all the luck that you can get.