30 Things I Learned As A Teenager [Top 30 list #4]

30 things I learned as a teenager

1. How to be the oldest sibling at home.
2. What it feels like to live in another country.
3. That I was funny and likable. 
4. How to write songs.
5. How to journal consistently. 
6. How to journal incessantly. 
7. Arabic.
8. Quick and efficient typing. 
9. That I can have a crush on someone for 3+ years and not die, even though it feels like I am.
10. My own special code to use in my journal when I was writing in public. 
11. That people actually wanted me to be their friend.
12. What it’s like to hold hands with a boy who likes you.
13. How the right song can be exactly what you need to get through something hard.
14. To “Suck it up, Princess” and
15. “At least you don’t have a prolapsed rectum.”
16. That purity is rare, but important.
17. Physical location and age does not determine how close and deep my friendships have to be.
18. Bellydancing. 
19. That saying goodbye a lot doesn’t make it any easier. 
20. That the Shrek sound track is the best sound track to wash dishes to.
21. To not use too much thyme when cooking.
22. What a scary birth can look like.
23. What a home birth can look like.
24. To fall so irrevocably in love with a country and a culture that it ruins you for life.
25. YouTube. 
26. How to be a LOTR’s fangirl for life.
27. That I actually only love watching basketball and football (soccer) and all other sports are dead to me. 
28. That Settlers is the most complicated and not-fun game. The cutest boy I know tried to teach me how to play, and I couldn’t learn even for him, and that’s how I know it is the most complicated and not-fun game. 
29. Myspace.
30. Confessing your weaknesses/sins/shortcomings to others takes a lot of courage and sometimes your vulnerability is met with gracious understanding and sometimes it is met with the hard fast line of wrong and right, but regardless of the response, it’s still the right thing to do.