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18 till I die. Suruchi Thakur Suruchi Thakur is a first year college student at Austin, TX.

(Bryan Adams, from the album '18 till I die')

I can think of just so many songs, poems and stories celebrating the rhythm of being young and eighteen, but I have yet to find out for myself the true spirit of this age upon which I'm about to embark.

I'm a seventeen-year (ten months, five days and thirteen hours and forty-three minutes) old about to make a rather disastrous crash landing on Planet Adulthood. My only words right now are "Houston we have a problem."

In short, I'm an average, (and, as my folks would like to call me, *confused*) teen about to be officially designated. Adult in another fifty days. And, in truth, I'm still not sure what I'm up against.

Every now and then people would stop and try to explain what this 'planet' has in store for me, but that has just left me a little more confused. One thing I seem to hear the most is, "You have to take responsibility of your action." (Sounds familiar huh? I've heard that so often that I can sometimes hear it in my dreams). But, I like most what a teacher told me once, "The true spirit of being eighteen is to able think like an adult about childish things." 'Whoa.deep.'

That's exactly what I said when I heard that. But, as the time grew closer to the age, I seemed to realize what she was talking about. It's only a eighteen-year old who can cherish that joy of being able to decide like an 'adult' about how to get back at a mean professor (by writing the next paper so well that he has a hard time making sense of it.fat chance).

Most people don't realize how beautiful this age in life is. To be able to look the unknown world in the face and yet sleep sound at night has a lot of magic to it. And if you don't stop for a moment to feel this magic..it will seem to fade faster than your favorite shirt.

I don't know what lies ahead for me and what all I'll learn from this age, but I know this--that every now and then I'll stop for a moment in time and try to absorb the magic around. Let's all join together to celebrate this age by reminding your eighteen-year old kids, cousins, nieces and nephews or even friends, of the magic inside of them.

Credits

• Editing : Reeta Sinha