Goldi Turns 19: Our Oldest's Last Teenage Birthday

Hi, friends. Today our oldest turns 19, which means it's her last official teenage birthday. After this, it's the twenties. Phew. I was so wound up before her 18th birthday, because we wanted to make it really special for her.

But first came her final exams for the Abitur (the German high school diploma), and at the end of June her graduation ball. She also wanted to fly to the U.S. with her boyfriend the day after her birthday. That almost fell apart. We had filled out the ESTA, the online travel authorization Germans need to enter the U.S., correctly and on time, but she had needed a new passport.

So the ESTA had the data from her expired passport on file, which meant she wouldn't be allowed into the country. Right in the middle of all the partying, things got insanely hectic again. We prayed that the new application wouldn't take three days and would come through fast, because otherwise her graduation trip was toast.

Just the kind of thing you need… The confirmation finally came through around 5:30 p.m. We could let go of a little of the tension, and we'd be able to drive her to the Frankfurt airport the next day. What a relief, in our keyed-up exhaustion, because of course we had celebrated right past midnight into her 18th birthday.

This time the planning and the day itself are way more relaxed for us, and we're looking forward to it calmly and cozily. Well, WE are. She's not… because she's in the middle of finals for her second semester and sometimes spends more than 12 hours a day at the university, building models and finishing papers. She has deadlines and exams before, during, and after her birthday, so her 19th will mostly happen on the side, and there's no trip planned either. 

I remember my own 19th birthday well. I had moved out at 18, so at 19 I was living in a shared apartment in Cologne. I had a final exam for my Abitur the day before my birthday and another the day after (because of G8, a reform that shortened college-prep high school, my daughter only had 12 years of school, while we had 13).

In other words: we had to ring in my birthday at midnight. Anything else would have been irresponsible. And we did it at the Prime Club in Cologne, which had a free-beer party every Wednesday night: 10 euros to get in, then free Kölsch (Cologne's local beer) between 9 and 11 p.m. At midnight they always played "Time of My Life," and my girlfriends had prepared a cake with sparklers on it.

On the birthday itself, the weather was nice, so we sat outside at a café and studied for the next day's exam. Somehow 19th birthdays in our family seem to come with a lot of exams 😉 And since our oldest has started sending me listings for tiny, cute apartments near campus every now and then, I suspect this new year of her life will bring some big changes…

I moved from Cologne to Berlin when I was 19, too, and set off to make a life for myself. So I'm guessing a move-out may be coming here soon as well. Who knows, we can't exactly look into a crystal ball.

But here's what we can say: it's amazing to watch how she's handling this intense new chapter. She keeps meeting great people and building expertise in her field. We're amazed at the designs she's already presenting, and at how cool and capable she is with university projects abroad, when she has only just started.

And she does it all with a steady calm that we, as her parents, find astonishing. It's not just school, not just girlfriends, not just the boyfriend, not just parties, not just side jobs (okay, but lots of them, you busy bee!). It's a wonderful, balanced mix of life that makes us proud and lets us look at the road ahead with more than a little optimism.

19 Years of Goldi: Happy Birthday!

What did Grandpa call her when she was a baby? "Our Goldi." Nineteen years of Goldi-hood have made all of us happy, and they keep making us happier than we can say. You don't need any advice anymore. You're already wonderful just the way you are! Happy birthday, my girl! We couldn't be prouder…