Today is New Year's eve. In other words, it's the day before my birthday, the day before Savannah leaves, and two days before Owen and I leave.
Savannah has a flight tomorrow afternoon, so supposedly they're planning on having a little party for my birthday before she has to go. I told them that we didn't have to do anything, but they insisted we at least had to have a cake so that they could sing happy birthday to me.
We've spent all of today at the house, considering there isn't much to do around my town. We've watched a ton of Disney movies, and Owen, Sav, and I made dinner for Aunt Lauren as a thank you for bringing them here and letting them stay with me. It wasn't much, but I could tell she loved it.
We stayed up so that we could watch the ball drop at Times Square on TV, which turned out to be harder than anticipated. I was already falling asleep on Owen's shoulder by 10:00.
"Bugaboo, you sure you're gonna be able to stay awake until midnight?" Owen whispers to me when I start to fall asleep for the third time in a row.
"Honestly, I'm not so sure," I laugh. "Not sure why this is so hard."
"You've been getting enough sleep, haven't you? You haven't any more nightmares, right?" he questions, and I can sense the concern in his voice.
"No, O. I'm okay, I promise."
"If you do start having nightmares again, tell me, okay? You scared me the other night."
"I'm sorry. I promise I'll tell you whenever they do happen. You help a lot, though."
"Good to know," he smiles, pulling me closer to him. "You can go to sleep if you need to, you know. None of us will blame you for it."
"I know, but I want to stay up with you all. I'll be okay."
He nods, and we continue to lay there in silence and continue watching the movie that Aunt Lauren had picked out. Something about knights and jousting, but honestly I didn't understand much of it. All I understood was that Heath Ledger was in it, and that was enough to keep me watching.
By the time that movie finished, there were only about fifteen minutes until midnight. I was still very tired, but I had made it this far, I wasn't gonna give up now.
"Does anyone have any new year's resolutions?" Aunt Lauren asked.
"New year's resolutions are overrated. You might do good with them in January, but then you just give up a couple of months into the year," I say.
"Well, what are some goals you have for the year, then?" she responded.
"For me, I want to live in the moment more," Savannah says. "You know, enjoy the little things. Like drinking strawberry milkshakes with my two best friends at a random diner I've never been to."
"That was pretty fun, wasn't it?" I smile. "Personally, I'd love to travel more. There's so much of the world I haven't seen. And I'm about to go to Hawaii, so I'll start that goal out strong."
"All good goals," Aunt Lauren agrees. "Owen, you got any?"
"Um, I guess to take more risks. I feel like anxiety can get in the way of doing fun things sometimes, but trying not to let it overtake me and make me miss out on things that I want to do."
"Ah, yes, I think that is a very nice goal for you," she smiles. "Oh, wait- they're counting down!" She turns up the volume of the TV so that we can hear the countdown, which we all chant along to.
"Happy birthday, Jenny," Owen whispers in my ear once the clock hits midnight.
"Thanks," I grin.
