My Birthday and a Horse

Today is my fifteenth birthday. As I write this we're driving up to Topeka (the capitol of Kansas, and also the setting for one of my novels) to look at a horse. I'm excited, and hoping that this horse will work out for us and that my parents will buy him for me.

I think he's very pretty in the photos provided on his profile picture. I'm anxious to meet him.

That said, it's also my birthday. 

And finally being a year older has now opened a little space in time for me to post about how it felt to be fourteen. 

I have to say that I didn't really like it. I mean, age-wise it was okay, but I was (am) constantly looked down upon by adults because of my age. People acted like I was below them simply by being young. When I told a published author that I was an aspiring author, she sent me a (admittedly nice) note telling me not to bother yet, because I was not an adult and being a writer is for adults. 

I feel guilty now, driving up to go look at a horse who needs trained, me being the possible one to do it. I feel like I'm under-qualified, like I'm an eight year-old aspiring to be an astronaut. Like training horses is for adults, because they're the only ones qualified to do it.

Being fifteen is no different. Pretty much, until I reach the age of thirty or so, people will always look down on me because I'm young. Because they assume I'm stupid and immature.

I'm young, and the thought is almost resentful because adults have taught me that it is. 

One of the (many) blogs I follow recently wrote a post about reading John Green's novels. As you can tell by reading back into the archives of this blog, I am a fan of John Green. He writes about people very well, describing them not as cliches but as individuals. His works detail love stories, illnesses, trips to the Netherlands, adventures, road trips--and above everything else, that teenagers are people too. 

A quote from the aforementioned blog that I follow:

The thing I think I like best about John Green as a person and a storyteller is that he treats teenagers like human beings. Why do you think he has such an enormous fanbase? Because he speaks to young adults as his equals, both physically and through his novels, and acknowledges that the things that happen to them and go through their heads are worth absolutely no less than anything that occurs to the adult brain or the adult soul. They are not kids, they are people.

I heartily recommend following her, because she writes like a wise man and has very pointed views of the world.