Out of time

Time to wake up

9th December 1997

I feel myself drifting into consciences, I am so warm and comfortable; I imagine this is what a caterpillar feels like in a cocoon. I want to stay here forever, I know though that staying here will accomplish nothing. I reluctantly fight my way out of my warm space and open my eyes to a blinding light; instantly regretting my choice I put my arm over my face in an attempt to shield my eyes, I don’t understand what’s happening? Once I have adjusted to the brightness I reluctantly remove my arm, I peer over to the light source through squinted eyes and realise it is the sun. I have forgotten to close my curtains before I went to bed last night and now my eyes are now suffering the consequences. I grunt as I climb out of bed to shut them, once my room is dark again I slump back onto the bed taking a few more minutes to wake up properly. I lie looking up at the ceiling, still in a half asleep state trying and failing to remember my plans for the day. Ten minutes later I face defeat and sit up looking at my clock ‘eugh’ nine thirty AM what day is it? I look over to my calendar, my eyes bulge as I realise the date - December 9th! ‘How could I forget?’

Today is the day; I jump up excitedly forgetting all about my earlier grogginess. Today is the day of my eighteenth birthday. I am legally an adult and finally able to go out drinking. My best friend Sierra has been illegally going out with her older boyfriend Marc since she turned sixteen. Since meeting him she went from the quite good girl to a confident badass overnight. Whenever I ask her about it she simply shrugs her shoulders and acts like she doesn’t know what I am talking about, which frustrates me to no end. I have known the girl since we were twelve years old; we met on our first day of high school. Sierra sat in the seat next to me in form room. She was painfully shy but seemed determined to talk to me, after her third failed attempt at introducing herself I finally took pity on her and struck up a conversation. As it turned out we actually had quite a lot in common and from that moment we were quite inseparable. I must admit our dynamic has changed a little ever since Sierra’s sixteenth birthday, she has become the dominant personality in our duo. It took a bit of getting used to at first but I am happy that she has come out of her shell and stepping into the spot light.   

I come from a pretty loud family; it’s nice to take a back seat for a while. Sierra is probably more excited about my birthday than me; she has been begging me to join her on a night out for months. Unfortunately for me I am the youngest daughter of some seriously over protective parents. So until my eighteenth it was never going to happen. I don’t think they realise just how much they ‘baby me’. All of my family do really, it can get quite annoying. I am the youngest of four; my oldest brother Timothy is a full fourteen years older than me and is now married with two kids, not much younger than me. My sister Ashley is thirteen years older than me, she often forgets that we are sisters and treats me like one of the primary children that she teaches. Then there is Joshua he is eleven years older than me and already on his second wife. By time I was eight years old the last of my siblings had left home all within a few months of each other. Which as you can imagine left my mum with a serious case of empty nest syndrome. From that point on she was determined to keep me as her baby for as long as she could. Today that changes; I’ll finally have some more freedom.

Me and Sierra have been planning this night for months, after college she is coming out for a meal with me and my family followed by Sierra taking me on a pub crawl of all her favourite places she has been telling me about for the last two years – it was a compromise with my mother, her original plans for the evening included a night in and some embarrassing baby albums, I swiftly put an end to that idea. I smiled to myself as I climbed out of bed recalling the look on my mother’s face when my dad finally stuck up for me.

‘Enough Judy! It’s time to face facts Jennifer is not a baby anymore and deserves to celebrate her eighteenth birthday like any normal teenager would, just like both her brothers and her sister did. Not stuck at home celebrating with her family like a four year old.’ In that moment I was so happy I could have run across the room and squeezed my dad so hard but I didn’t think that would help his ‘she is a grown up argument’. Instead I mouthed my thanks to him while my mother was looking away and he gave me a wink that let me know he had my back.

It had now been thirty minutes since the realisation that it was my birthday and I had managed to have a quick shower, get dressed and brush my teeth. Luckily for me I didn’t have any scheduled lectures at college till eleven O’ Clock and all I had missed so far was my enrichment session. Me and Sierra had scoured the enrichment fair looking for the session that was the least amount of effort and was thrilled when we found film club. This basically consisted of us watching obscure old films and debating them in depth at the end. Sierra declared it a waste of time and now fell asleep in the back row every Tuesday but I for some reason really enjoyed older films, I felt a strange sense of déjà vu when I watched them. Any way missing one class for the day wouldn’t tarnish my attendance record.

I had just stepped out of my bedroom ready to grab breakfast when I heard whispering coming from down stairs. What on earth is going on I thought to myself as I walked across the landing. When I stood on the creaky floor board the whispers came to a halt and I knew immediately that my parents were up to something. I crept down the stairs weary of what they had planned, I held my breath in anticipation as I turned the corner and walked into the living room – nothing!

‘hummm where are they?’ I said to myself as I approached the double doors to the kitchen.

‘SURPRISE’ a chorus of voices echoed giving me a mini heart attack. I looked round the room in panic realising that my whole family (parents, siblings, their partners and their kids) had been hiding ready to jump out at me and were now smiling at me with stupid ‘I gotcha’ grins on their faces.

‘Jesus, what the hell are you guys doing here!’ I directed to the whole room trying to calm my racing heart.

‘We wanted to surprise you’ said Ashley

‘Yeah not everyday our kid sister turns eighteen’ teased Timothy to which I rolled my eyes at him and he laughed in return. Joshua then got me in a head lock and started rubbing his knuckles on my hair like I was a child.

‘eighteen how did that happen’ Josh laughed as I attempted to push him off,

‘get off Josh I’m serious, I’ve just done my hair.’

‘Alright that’s enough now give the birthday girl some room’ my mum warned making her way over to me to give me a hug.

‘Happy birthday love’ she said as she gave me a squeeze,

‘I’m guessing this was all your idea’ I whispered into her ear as I returned her hug.

‘Just thought it would be nice to have one last family breakfast together before you officially turn eighteen’

‘Mum my birthday is now, I am eighteen,’

‘Well technically you don’t turn eighteen till seven minutes past ten tonight, sooooo I still have you as my baby for a bit longer’ she smiled as she encased me in another hug. I looked over her shoulder at my father, who gave me a knowing look, walked over to the double doors then cleared his throat;

‘Well breakfast then everybody?’

‘Oh yes’ my mother beamed letting go, ‘I’ve made all of Jenny’s favourites: French toast, pancakes and waffles.’ I looked over at my dad and mouthed a ‘thank you’ to which he mouthed a ‘you’re welcome’ and we walked round the breakfast bar to the mountain of food my mother had prepared.

‘I hope you all enjoy’ she said watching us all grabbing food happily.

‘It’s probably cold the amount of time Jenny takes to get up’ Tim joked

‘Yeah mum insisted we all go here for eight thirty!’ Josh chimed in

‘Oh leave the poor girl alone’ Josh’s wife, Amanda scolded.

It wasn’t long before the whole room erupted into separate chats, I looked over at my mother, she seemed so happy. I had to admit I had missed this, I remember the loud breakfasts we would have when I was a kid. All arguing over the best seat or the least burnt piece of toast, meals had definitely become more boring since it was just the three of us left, I could see why my mum liked to push to have us all together more often.

After I had devoured my third set of pancakes and was feeling rather full, I stood up taking my plate to the sink, ‘you’re not leaving already are you Jenny’ my mum said panicked causing all the individual conversations to die down.

‘Mum I have to; I have college in twenty minutes’

‘Can’t you just skip it for one day, everybody came to see you’ she responded

‘Mum Sierra will be waiting for me’ I protested

‘I’d just give in if I were you sis’ Josh said as he came and placed his arm around my shoulders, I held my fist up in warning not to touch my hair again and he backed off holding both his hands up.

‘Mum already convinced me, Josh, Tim and our partners to have the day off work’ Ash said.

‘And got me to make an excuse for the kids not to go into school’ Tim added. I looked over at my niece and nephew who both looked pretty happy with the way things had turned out then looked at my mother in disbelief.

‘Really mother?’ she shrugged innocently walking off to clear up dishes from around the room.

‘What are we suppose to do, sit around eating breakfast all day?’ I said as one final attempt to protest, an attempt that I knew had failed instantly when I saw the devious smile making its way onto my mother’s face.

‘I thought we could start with presents’ she grinned. I sighed in defeat and she squealed with joy having got her own way.

‘Everyone in the living room, I’ll make a round of brews and we can get started.

What have I let myself in for?