Dear ones, our big girl is turning 19 today, so it’s her last official teen birthday and then it’s off to the twenties. Phew, I was so tense before her 18th birthday, we wanted to make it really special for her.
But before that there were the A-level exams and the graduation ball at the end of June and she wanted to fly to America with her boyfriend the day after her birthday, which almost failed because we had filled out the Esta application correctly and on time so that she could enter the country, but she needed a new passport.
So the data from the expired passport was on file and that meant she wouldn’t be able to enter the country with it. In the middle of the celebrations, things got really hectic again and we prayed that the new application wouldn’t take three days but would arrive quickly, otherwise her Abitur trip would be cancelled.
The kind of thing you need… The application confirmation actually arrived at around 5.30 pm and we were able to let go of a little tension and bring it to Frankfurt the next day. What a relief in our excited tiredness, as we had of course celebrated her 18th birthday.
This time it is much more relaxed for us in the planning and execution and we are looking forward to the day in a relaxed and cosy way. Well, WE, not her… because she is in the middle of her final exams for her second semester and has been at university for over 12 hours to build models and finish papers. She has assignments and exams before, during and after her birthday, so her 19th birthday will be on the side and there’s no travelling planned.
I still remember my own 19th birthday well, I had already moved out at 18 and was living in a shared flat in Cologne at 19 and had an A-level exam the day before my birthday (my daughter only had 12 years of school due to G8, we were 13 at the time) and the day after.
In other words, we had to party, anything else would have been unreasonable. And that’s what we did at the Prime Club in Cologne, where there was always a free beer party on Wednesday evenings, 10 euros entry and then free Kölsch between 9 and 11 pm. „Time of my life“ always came on at midnight and my friends had prepared a cake with sparklers on it.
On the birthday itself, we then studied for the next day in a café outside in good weather. Somehow, 19th birthdays seem to be exam-intensive in our family 😉 And because our big girl keeps sending us adverts for flats in cute little flats near the university, I suspect that the new year of life will be accompanied by upheavals…
I also moved from Cologne to Berlin when I was 19 and started out in life, so I suspect that we might be moving out soon too. Who knows, we can’t look into the crystal ball.
What we can say, however: It’s amazing how she’s taking this intense new path, how she’s getting to know more and more great people and acquiring expertise in her field, what designs she’s already submitting and how cool she’s also mastering university projects abroad, even though she’s only just started.
All this with a solid composure that we as parents find amazing. It’s not just university, not just girls, not just boyfriends, not just partying, not just part-time jobs (ok, but lots of them, you busy bee!) It’s an absolutely great, balanced mix of life that makes us proud and more than optimistic about the next stage.
19 years of Goldi: Happy birthday!
What did Grandad call her as a baby? „Our Goldi“. 19 years of Golditum have made us all happy and continue to make us extremely happy. You don’t need any more advice, you’re already great the way you are! Happy birthday, my big girl! We couldn’t be prouder…
