My Name is Becca

I turned twenty last Wednesday. Two of the best friends threw me a "surprise party" that consisted of putting me in a blindfold and dragging me across campus, in the rain, to a house where a red velvet cake waited for me. There weren't any candles. Bradford - one of my friends - held a match in front of my face and told me to make a wish.

I wished for something to happen.

In the moment, it seemed like a great wish. The most brilliant and life-altering birthday wish ever wished in the history of birthdays. All production in the Birthday Wish Factory would surely screeched to a halt, and whatever entities hear our silent pleas would lift mine, solemnly, and take it to the Wish Granter for immediate contemplation and fulfillment.

When I woke up the day after turning twenty, and nothing had changed, I realized something.

It was a waste of a wish.

Too often in life, people place their happiness on something other than themselves. We are too fond of wishing. We like thinking that if we are good people, and we continue to get out of bed every day and call our mothers and hold doors open for people, our dreams will come true. Don't get me wrong - I love daydreaming - but it can't be the crux of our master plans.

I realized, that morning, that nothing is going to happen unless I make it happen.

It seems like a silly realization. "Duh, Becca, all mature adults already know that."

Yeah, they do. Because they realized it, and it stuck.

Which leads me to this blog.

I'm a bad blogger. I mean, I'm really bad at blogging. Posting regularly, moderating things, making things look pretty. I've tried it in the past, numerous times; all with excellent intentions, but none that lasted longer than three months.

But still, I want to blog. I am compelled to do it. It's easy, it's free, and people look at them. It is one of the best - no, actually, the best way to put yourself out there. And everyone should put themselves out there. The world is not designed to notice people who don't want to be noticed. You have to tell your story. (More on that later.)

So that's the introduction. That's why this blog is here. As for what I'm going to do with it, that stands to be discovered.

I am going to make something happen.