Eighteen!!

Nearly two months, tisk tisk me. The New Year has come and gone and I've been 18 for almost two weeks. I didn't really believe everyone when they said that your Senior year flies by, I have found this to be true though. Where did all my time go? In six months time I'll be living on my own in Cedar City, a four hour drive away from any family and though I'll have Kaitlynn down there with me (which I'm so thankful for) it's still so strange to think of myself as a separate entity. No longer part of the Harrison household but still a part of the Harrison family (if that makes any sense)

I think I'm looking forward to the fresh start. In Cedar City, nobody knows me. No one knows my baggage, no one knows the things I've struggled with (with the exception of Kaitlynn), and best of all, no one will have known my mother. It's almost like I can escape the memory. No, I don't think memory is the right word, but there is nothing Cedar City or at SUU that I can associate with her. No memories being randomly triggered, no chance of accidentally bumping into someone she once knew, things like that. I know that leaving doesn't guarantee that any of these things won't happen. I know there is always a chance, but it drastically reduced which I'm grateful for.

Dad was awesome and took me to Disneyland for my 18th birthday. I know it seems a little childish but I love that place. I have so many happy memories stored up from when I was there, especially when it was just Dad, Curtis, and me. Though I had been with mom a few times I don't think of it like that. It's where my family goes, my slightly modified family. Sometimes it feels almost normal, it being just the three of us but it still feels like somethings missing. Maybe that's the way it will always be, maybe not. Only time will tell us I suppose.

Back to my amazing birthday. We left Monday night the 8th at 10 o'clock and drove on down to Anaheim. Dad drove most of the way, but I drove from Vegas to Barstow (which is really only about an hour or so). I felt kinda proud, it was 4 in the morning though so the traffic was pretty light, lots of semi-trucks though. We go there Tuesday morning and slept in the car for a little bit. I felt a little strange just parking in a random parking lot and sleeping for an hour. Our hotel wouldn't let us check in till noon so we just went to the park.

Tuesday it rained like crazy all day, and my poor little feet got soaked and a bit blistered (the price of Disneyland). One good thing about rain in Disneyland, it usually drives everyone out, so the lines are super short. We got there when the park opened at 9 and stayed till 12, but after that it was too cold, too wet, and we were exhausted from being on the road and Dad had maybe 3 hours of sleep, so we went back to the hotel room and crashed. We didn't go back to the park that night. I fell asleep for 3 hours or something like that and then slept solid through the night.

Wednesday was nice again, a little cold but so much better then anything here. I had friends texting me and calling me to complain about the snow they were getting while I enjoyed 65 degree weather. We had a blast going on all the rides, though we had hit most of our favorite ones the day before. We also went to the DCA that day as well and did a lot of the stuff there. For lunch we went to Watson's Drug Store and Soda Fountain in Orange, then went into this amazing vintage shop. There were so many beautiful clothes, shoes, hats, jewelry, bags and anything else you can think of. I wish I could have bought the whole store!

Thursday I was officially 18 and got a cool little Disneyland badge that said Happy Birthday Whitney on it and it was just adorable. We went on more rides and had my birthday dinner at The Blue Bayou restaurant, which is inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride (which is awesome!) Then when we were done for the day we went and got ice cream at Watson's again. The three of us split this massive Oreo brownie sundae that was amazing! All in all an amazing birthday.

I'm tired now and I think I'll update a little bit more tomorrow :)