Is there an age in your life you would relive
If I could relive any age in my life, it would be 18.
I was finishing my senior year of high school, living in that rare space where responsibilities hadn’t fully arrived yet, but freedom was just starting to unfold. There’s something magical about being young enough to be naïve to the weight of adulthood, yet old enough to feel your world expanding. My days were simple…school, easy senior-year classes, weekend plans, and working at the local skating rink. I’d stay late after shifts just to spend extra time with my boyfriend or hang out with my bestfriend. My grandparents had finally loosened the reins a bit, so I was going out more, testing the edges of independence.
That was also the year my grandfather discovered I had a piercing. I can still hear his voice, his Jamaican accent thick with disappointment “Ooh no, Julia… why? What about medical school?” I remember standing there grinning, proud of my new claimed independence , trying to reassure him that it was just a phase and that I wouldn’t dare keep it once I became a doctor. (Funny how life led me to the PA profession instead.)
Looking back, what stands out most is how defining that year was. High school is a turning point, a moment when you start to understand who you are and who you might become. Eighteen felt like standing in the doorway between two versions of myself. One carefree and unburdened, the other stepping into the unknown.
For a moment, life felt limitless