Opening The Mind Yearbook - When I Was Sixteen

I am writing this article to remember the peaceful days I had back then. I am not trying to live life in the past; which is nonsense. I am staying ahead by walking toward my future. I am almost 25 years of age, and I still have future plans I need to accomplish. I am however reminiscing on all the wonderful days and times I had in the past. But unfortunately, those days are over and behind me. Memories and memoirs do however have a special place in my heart. I keep them alive like a yearbook in my heart. Once again, I am not living in the past, but instead, I am backtracking on my old days whenever I get a chance. So that is basically the beginning of what I am stating here. These are just some of my opinions and how I feel. So allow me to take you back to the year of 2003, shall we?

On March 8, 2003, it was my sixteenth birthday during my freshman year in high school during the second semester. I was 16 years of age at the time. God has blessed me to live and see another year gone by. I was happy to be the age of sixteen. On my sixteenth birthday, I celebrated my birthday, I received birthday gifts from family members. I don’t remember them all at once, but I did receive new clothes, cash gifts, and my mother bought me a red ECKO Unlimited jacket to wear. I enjoyed my sixteenth birthday back then. Oh yeah; on my sixteenth birthday, I received a surprised visit from my grandfather. He took my father and I to the store to purchased some things. I also remember when my grade level administrator game me some shirts as a gift and also on my birthday, I was giving a dollar to spend at lunch so I could buy something like a beverage, cookies, bagged snacks, or ice cream. I don’t remember what I actually bought, but it had to be one of them. It was more different than big birthday parties; even though I had one before the day I became the age of seven years ago. I actually had the peace of mind that God gave me. I was blessed abundantly. Even the days after my birthday, days still went by real good. During the first semester in my freshman year in high school, things seemed difficult and puzzled in the beginning. After plethora time passed by within days and months, then I started to feel comfortable. It has been said, “No Pain, No Gain”. It is kind of related in the mind. Time really heals. God really brought me through tough times. I realized that it wasn’t middle school anymore (which were the times I also enjoyed). So the first four months of high school was like a weight in my mind that was just so hard to lift, and a pill that was too hard to swallow, but time helped lowered the pressure and made it easier. And since then, I made my way through. It was also like a huge weight on my shoulder I just needed to take down. So, basically, it was a work-out plan for the mind. At the end of the day, I had a Peace of Mind!

And while I was sixteen, I enjoyed reading, writing, listening to music, watching television, cycling, playing outside, visiting family members and spending time with them, making phone calls to family and friends and communicating with them, watching movies, playing video games, and whole lots more. I know I did these things before, but I was just enjoying life. Before the last week of my school year, I spent nights with my grandmother. I gave her some of my time. We have three trees that produce apples every summer. My mother was making homemade apple jelly and so was my other grandmother. Two months later, I spent nights with my cousin at her house. One of those days we went to Stone Mountain. We put up a great exercise by walking up the mountain. Even though we climbed up the mountain, we missed the laser show. When I came home from my cousin’s house, things were still going good. I wouldn’t call this a “Sweet Sixteen”, I am just living life one day at a time, breathing air, walking every step, eating and drinking.

“And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.” - Luke 12:19 [King James Version]

A month later, I went back to school on my sophomore year during the first semester; guess what, things went very well. There were only light problems I had to solve. Here is an example: There are things in one’s path may taste sweet like honey on the tongue, but somehow it will feel bitter to the stomach like a stomach virus. I did make it through. It wasn’t too serious.

A few months later, I started a penny collection. Wherever I saw a penny, I immediately picked it up. I remember I traded a dime for two nickels at school at the cast register, so I could turn them into pennies. It was kind of fun collecting pennies, and I even had a rock collection with it. But it wasn’t until a few months later that my penny collection had failed. I failed to maintain them. BUT, On January of 2004, I started over; I started to collect pennies again and this time, I decided to do it at my grandmother’s house. And guess what, it is still there and I am still collecting them. I don’t just have pennies, but also nickels, dimes, quarters, gold dollar coins, and a half dollar coin. I have put so much effort into them. So that was History in the Making in 2004. I collect them in a big Crystal Springs water bottle and there is some rolled up in my secured safe that I bought from Amazon.com back in 2008. The collection still goes on today.

This is all I have to put out about when I was Sixteen. It was so much memories back then, even though small parts were as bittersweet. And I will not forget this as long as I live. Thank you all for listening to me. God bless you all.

Yours in Christ,
-Victor