the most iconic bday

celebrating 15 with my favorite people

Not only was this day the best birthday I have ever had, but it was also the best night of my life. I have gone to multiple schools throughout my life and have become close with multiple groups of amazing friends, so when I had my 15th birthday, I invited 18 of my best friends who went to Rowland Hall, Parley's Park, the Winter School, and Ecker Hill. We danced and laughed and played and swam and watched the sunset and watched movies and explored the hotel and made the most incredible and unforgettable memories. It was such an amazing time to celebrate not dying for a year with my favorite people in the whole world.

The party started around noon, so we got everyone settled into their rooms and introduced everyone for about an hour before we got ready and headed down to the pool. We swam, relaxed in the summer sun, and took pictures to commemorate the afternoon. After we finished spending time outside, we went into our room and got ready for dinner. As one can imagine, it is not an organized sight to see 15 teenage girls rush around to get ready for dinner before their reservation. We had exactly an hour to shower, pick outfits, do makeup, do hair, have a quick snack, dance, and play our favorite songs. Because there were so many things we needed to fit into a short amount of time, it was a mad dash for everything. As a mix of everything from Ariana Grande to Travis Scott was blaring on the speakers throughout the room, girls were running from backpack to bedrooms to bathrooms to friends bags to the speaker. Once we finally all picked out our dresses and got changed, we decided to do each others hair and makeup in 10 minutes. It was a mad dash everywhere, and although it seemed like a nightmare, it was so much fun.

We barely made our reservation, but we made it! Once we finally sat down, we really wanted to go to play some arcade games that were just around the corner from our table. My mom gave us each $2 which was enough for a couple rounds of whatever we wanted to play, but we were so hyped up for dinner, that we all pooled our money together and took pictures of us together. We decided to take a picture of us celebrating, and that's what led to the picture I chose to write about.

After dinner, we all went to the bowling alley that was also around the corner from where we were sitting and we bowled for ages. It was also funny because the boy who was working there was in my friend's chemistry class and took my other friend's sister to a school dance last year. Once we finished bowling, we changed into sweatshirts and warm clothes and went outside to roast marshmallows. It was cold, but we warmed up by dancing, running around, and sitting by the fireplace. After that, we went back up to the room, and the night was a blur from there. All I can remember was that I have never felt a feeling as purely joyful as I did the night I celebrated my birthday surrounded by the people I love most in the world.

to my 30 y/o self - the worst of dc

Dear 30-year-old Emma,

You probably won't even remember that you wrote this when you are 30 because, hopefully, you are married/in a serious relationship and have a great job and have more important things to do than read a letter from 9th-grade Emma. The longest time that I would be able to keep track of and remember a letter would be from when you were at Rowland Hall in 8th grade and you and your whole class had to write a letter to your senior self. I know that all of my friends there are going to have a "Kumbaya moment" according to Mr. Robs when they are all seniors and open their letters together. I hope that you remembered to email him and went to Rowland Hall to open your letter with your old classmates. Who would've thought that going to such a small school for such a short time would've made such a huge impact on your life?

Speaking of Rowland Hall, I would like to remind you of one of the best but most awkward weeks of your life in 2018. You will definitely remember the class trip to DC for the rest of your life because if you don't right now, you have just disappointed your 9th-grade self. Anyways, DC was one of the best weeks of your life, and 2018 was one of the best years. During the week, you stayed at the Hotel Harrington that smelled like fish and had a thermostat that was literally a piece of metal sticking out of the ceiling. There was also torrential downpours of rain that completely soaked you and your friends every day. There was a baseball game that you were supposed to go to, but due to the rain, it was canceled. This caused a lot of stress for the teachers because they did not have a backup plan, but it was Rowland Hall, so they got 10 escape rooms for the entire grade. After we all went to the escape rooms, the entire grade had a choice to either see a horror movie or Avengers: Infinity War. Most of my friends and I decided to go to Avengers, but you might recall that DC was a major couples week. Grace and Seabass were dating, Sarah and Connor were dating, Robbie and Camryn were dating, Jenna and Ozzie were kind of dating, you and Gus were dating, and it was just a crazy week. Half of the relationships didn't make it back to Utah.

At the theater, it was extremely awkward because the seating arrangement was (from left to right): Henry, Lizzie, Camryn, Robbie, Ozzie, Jenna, Gus, Tenny, Casey, you, and Matt Baron. The movie was 2 hours and 40 minutes, so there was a lot of time for stuff to go down. The entire movie experience was just plain awkward because half the time, Camryn was sprawled on top of Robbie over the large, reclining-seat barrier. You being your awkward 8th-grade self was feeling very uncomfortable, but very relieved when Gus came to sit next to you instead of Matt. You couldn't even focus on the movie, because so much was going through your head. You mostly thought of what was going to happen for the rest of the week with everyone, and so this thought occupied and distracted you for the last hour of the movie. Even this was one of the most awkward weeks of your life, you wouldn't trade the experience with your best friends for the world.