My 18th Birthday

My most memorable birthday was my eighteenth, the birthday that makes you an adult, the birthday where you can finally drink alcohol, vote and be considered grown up.

All through my teens I’d imagined my eighteenth birthday celebrations and even though they wouldn’t be along the lines of a roman orgy I hoped it would be somewhat of a boozy, loud, anything goes type of affair.
Instead my eighteenth passed with me in a hospital ward where all the other patients were over fifty years old.

I spent the evening celebrating with my mum before going back to the ward and to be honest it wasn’t such a bad birthday celebration.

This birthday is memorable to me because it is one the doctors doubted I would reach and it was the night we both decided that it would be good if I moved back home, to mums house and live under her care and guidance..
My stab at being a fully fledged grown up, living on my own hadn’t exactly worked out to be like it had been in my dreams, even my nightmares hadn’t been as awful as the reality had been.

Spending a birthday in hospital is memorable but not for any good reasons. It’s a cause for misery, depression and tears, no one wants to spend a birthday in purgatory hospital. I have to give credit where credit is due though and the ward staff and the other patients did their best to make it a happy day for me.

All of the nurses who worked the floor I was on had given money to buy me a birthday cake, even the doctor had donated some money and given permission for me, a diabetic, to eat a slice of cake. The amount of insulin in my IV had even been increased without my knowing so the cake would be a surprise.
The cake was enjoyed by all the nursing staff, the other patients in the same room as me and myself and I don’t think I have ever cried so many tears, so happily and all because of a slice of cake.

The other surprise I had came when the other patients came to my bed and each had somehow managed to go to the hospital shop and had bought me either a soft toy or some hospital supplies a patient really needs such as bottles of soda, a variety of magazines and even a tv card so I could watch tv on the mini tv unit that was a part of the bed. I can remember each and every patients face and I can remember how truly grateful and happy I was that they had thought of me. I gave them all a hug to say thank you and I think there were more smiles that day than there had been the entire week preceeding it.

My mum and I really enjoyed our meal out and being just the two of us with no interruptions was lovely. We managed to clear a lot of issues and had a lot of fun doing so.

This birthday showed me that every cloud can have a silver lining and that people are in the main basically good, decent and, well, nice.
This was a birthday I will never forget, it taught me a lot about myself and about the goodness of others. It may not have been the celebration I imagined but to be honest I wouldn’t change it for the world.