Holy Crap I'm 24...

Walking back to my apartment today after doing my favorite thing in the world (a track workout (sense my sarcasm)), I started thinking about birthday wishes. Last year when I blew out my candles, I remember I didn’t even make a wish. The lack of wish-making wasn’t premeditated (okay, so I’ve been watching a lot of The Good Wife), but when the time came to extinguish the flames, I couldn't think of anything feasible to wish for. Sad I know, but don't worry; my wish-thinking led to happier thoughts.

I thought about what my birthday wishes used to be like, and how many of them actually did come true. I don’t remember all of them, but I’m sure some of them were as simple as wishing for the Malibu Barbie I’d asked for, or as ridiculous as wishing that I would never have to go to school again. There was one specific wish I do remember making though, and it was somewhere around my thirteenth birthday, when I’d just really started playing basketball. I wished that I would become a professional basketball player.

Teammates & Boys After Their Win!

Okay, so it’s not the WNBA, but my thirteenth birthday wish still came true! And you know what I did on my 24^th birthday? I went to the Nyon club’s 12-year-old boys championship cup game (which they won), and then went to a water park. Yup, at 24 years old, I still had a kiddie birthday party with my teammates. Three of us squeezed into floats and went down the water slides. We floated in the lazy river and jumped over the waves in the wave pool. I guess because I am 24, I noticed things at the water park that I wouldn’t have when I was younger, like how nobody wore shoes, kids were definitely peeing in the lazy river, and that the kid’s arm (that had an obvious open wound on it) in front of me had touched my float. We ended the day in the “16 years +” spa area (thank goodness), where I enjoyed the Jacuzzi and talked with my coach and teammate about how much faster I’ve become this year (a compliment I’ll never get tired of hearing).

My teammates and coach gave me a Swiss water bottle and a signed basketball for a present (so cute). The women’s basketballs in Europe say “G6” on them, which my teammates added a “Like a…” to (yes, I was feelin’ so fly…). They all signed the ball with their names and numbers, except for my coach, who simply wrote, “Julie #Coach.” They sang their French Happy Birthday song to me, and even got me a free dessert from Mickey D’s. Overall, I’d say it was a pretty American birthday celebration. Only one traditional thing was missing: the blowing out of the candles. I’m saving that for when I go home, and I’m already thinking up wishes.