Goodbye, Teenage Years

I realize I have plenty that I could write about right now, seeing as I haven't posted anything in months. But my birthday was yesterday, so that seems a convenient thing to write about.

I'm twenty now. Dang it. But let's not dwell on that.

Yesterday was a good day. :) I got to go to Champaign with my two best friends from home (Kelsey and Hillary) and see some of my best friends from school (Betsy and Minyona)! We went bowling, and I scored a 109 on my second game. Not too shabby. And then we went to Cocomero and had nummy frogurt and drinks!

Hillary, Kelsey, and me!

Me, Betsy, and Minyona!

Anyway, that was the fun part of my birthday.

Now for the sad part. You may know that Borders, the bookstore, is closing nationwide. You may also know that the Borders in Bloomington was the choice hangout of the Phalanx (me, Kelsey, and Hillary) until it closed in the winter. You may even know that yesterday, my birthday, was the last day that Borders was going to be open normally before putting everything on a liquidation sale.

I could try to explain to you how much Borders meant to me and my friends. 

How we started going there just to do math homework during our senior year in high school, and one Saturday we spent 8 hours there catching up on all the homework we had put off until then. 

How we had the menu memorized, how we filled out our punch cards to get free drinks until they did away with those and started keeping track electronically.

How every time we ordered drinks, we used different names and tried to pass them off as our own until the workers realized that we were different people every time.

How we had our own special table with our own usual spots, and if anyone was at our table when we got there, we would wait and take over it as soon as they got out of their seats.

How we went there to celebrate good times, like the beginning of summer, or someone's birthday, and how we went there during the worst times.

Borders was our home.

But nothing I say can fully explain how important Borders was to us.

Point being, yesterday was our last day getting drinks at a real Borders cafe. Having said goodbye to our own local Borders months ago, we had to go to the one in Champaign.

We really only wanted to get drinks, sit there for a while, and maybe buy one last thing with a few remaining gift cards.

So this is what happened. We walked in, saw a sign on the cafe and freaked out that it was already closed. It was a false alarm, but still terrible because the sign actually said they were out of the bonding powder to make Javakulas, which are our usual drinks. So we were really mad about that.

We also needed to come up with weird names. We decided on our recognizable but sufficiently strange Star Wars names (Kelsey is Princess Leia, Hillary is Yoda, and I am Obi-Wan).

But then, the best part of the Borders experience for the day, we met the cafe worker. I don't know his name; he didn't have a nametag. But he was super nice. He offered to make us iced Javakulas instead of the less-desirable alternative drinks we had chosen. And when we said our names, he called them loud and clear with pride for Star Wars. He even said "Master Yoda." And then he spoke in a Yoda voice. He was kind of weird. But we thoroughly appreciated it.

Anyway, Kelsey told him it was my birthday, so he only charged me for a latte, even though I was getting something more expensive, and said the rest was on him. And he gave us whatever toppings we wanted on our drinks because they needed to get rid of them anyway.

I know this is a long and pointless post about Borders, but despite it being our last day going there ever, it was about the best day I could have asked for.

So Borders closing was the end of an era for us. The end of my teenage years, as well.

All of it is bittersweet.

But there are different, yet equally as exciting things ahead. We may never find another "Borders." I'll never be a teenager again. But I still have my amazing friends and a super-privileged life, and I could not be more thankful. :)
Happy birthday to me!