19 Awesome Things I Love About My 19 Year Old

When we celebrated my oldest’s 19th birthday, it was a day marked with presents, dinner at his favorite restaurant, and a birthday cake made from the yellow box mix he loves.

To be honest, there was not a lot of over-the-top fanfare besides the typical birthday festivities.

After all, turning nineteen doesn’t have the same cachet as turning 18 and becoming a legal adult, or turning 16 and obtaining a driver’s license. Nor is it as monumental as turning 21 and reaching the legal drinking age.

Still, I can think of so many reasons why turning nineteen is amazing, as is being the parent of a 19 year old. In fact, here are 19 awesome things I love about my 19 year old.

1. I get to refer to him as “my teen” for 1 more year. 
2. High school is in the past. He gets to decide how much of that experience defines him moving forward.  
3. He isn’t living under my roof for the first time. My son went to college, while some of his friends moved out or joined the military. He’s out there in the big world and it’s a wide-open adventure!
4. At the same time, he’s still in my house for just a little bit longer, at least for breaks, and I genuinely enjoy seeing him when he’s home. 
5. He’s this beautiful combination of man and boy, adult and child. 
6. My 19 year old is communicating as an adult with other adults like professors and employers. It’s all him.
7. He’s making his own doctor and dentist appointments now, just as he should.
8. He understands the value of money. Spending it and earning it as a young adult has made him more appreciative of money.
9. He is fluent in banking, too, understanding how direct deposit works, utilizing bank and payment apps, transferring money between his checking and savings, guarding his passwords. 
10. His gym clothes don’t smell as bad as they did when he was 14 or 15.
11. If his gym clothes smell bad, at least he’s washing them!
12. I have to make him a lot of food when he’s home. I’m gonna miss this one day I tell myself as I buy twice as many ingredients to double a recipe.
13. He’s fun to talk to. Whether it’s about anime, politics, or the weather, I dig conversations with my young adult.
14. Speaking of politics, he’s finding his own voice.
15. Plus, he’s not looking for his polling place to cast his vote for the first time like when he was 18. Now he knows where it is.
16. He’s way too big for the kids table at holidays–and I like that he’s sitting at the adults’ table.
17. He appreciates gifts and the true meaning of the holidays on a deeper level.
18. He’s more mature in general and sees me and his father in a better light. He doesn’t see us as his antagonists, rather he understands the guiding and disciplinary decisions we’ve made. 
19. And his capacity for future-thinking is growing. He understands that choices and actions he makes may not have a big impact today, but they contribute to the future he wants to create for himself down the road. How cool is that?

Yup, there are so many reasons why nineteen is amazing.

Is it as widely hyped as turning 16, 18 or 21? Nope.

But as the 19 reasons listed above surely indicate, It’s a pretty awesome year after all!