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In order to claim your prize YOU MUST REPLY TO THE EMAIL. I cannot accept winners through Facebook because there are so many scams. If you do not see my email, please check your SPAM.
DAY 1 – Heather Cicio
DAY 2 – Sunday Barnaby
DAY 3 – Lisa Aguilar
DAY 4 – Amy White
DAY 5 – Melissa Berengue
DAY 6 – Jean Siska
DAY 7 – Rita Wray
DAY 8 – Deanna Sutherland
DAY 9 – Lindsey J Taylor
DAY 10 – Lisa Beatty Sargent
DAY 11 – Jess Blackcloud
DAY 12 – Amanda Wooten
Welcome to my annual 12 DAYS OF GIVEAWAYS!
If you’re new to this – here’s how it works:
1. Each day from December 1 through December 12 I will put up a new giveaway HERE on my website with instructions on how to enter, a detailed description of the prize, and some stuff about the book or series. Each giveaway is different and each has ONE WINNER. MY GIVEAWAYS ARE ALWAYS OPEN INTERNATIONAL
2. Each giveaway runs UNTIL DECEMBER 13.
3. Winners are CHOSEN and NOTIFIED on December 14. I will be notifying winners USING THE EMAIL USED TO COMMENT ON THIS BLOG – and all winners will BE LISTED AT THE TOP OF EACH GIVEAWAY POST HERE ON MY WEBSITE on December 14.
4. Winners have 24 hours to respond, then another winner will be chosen.
5. ALL PRIZES WILL BE MAILED ON DECEMBER 15. If I’m waiting on a winner to respond and they miss the December 15 mail date, that prize will be mailed when I get around to it. I live in the middle of nowhere so a trip to the post office is a “thing” for me. 🙂 So make sure you’re checking for winners on the 14th.
6. I will send newsletters announcing giveaways on December 1, December 6, December 12, and a Winner newsletter on December 14. I NEVER send this many newsletters in a month so sorry if that feels spammy.
7. You can also FOLLOW MY BLOG. I will also make a blog post HERE announcing ALL WINNERS on the 14th. If you want to follow this blog there will be a form at the bottom of each post to do that. Then you get an email when I POST HERE. I don’t do that often – December is the exception because of the 12 Days and my yearly “Wrap-up” post.
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY.
THAT’S IT! I HOPE YOU ALL ENJOY THIS!
The world is INSANE right now so I’m just trying to spread some cheer and give back to all of you who support me and enjoy the stories I create.
NOW LET’S GET ON TO THE FIRST GIVEAWAY!
DID YOU MISS THE PREVIOUS GIVEAWAYS?
ENTER NOW AT THE LINKS BELOW. THEY ARE ALL STILL OPEN.
DAY 1
DAY 2
DAY 3
DAY 4
DAY 5
DAY 6
DAY 7
IN EACH POST I WILL HIGHLIGHT A BOOK
TODAY’S BOOK HIGHLIGHT IS EIGHTEEN!
EIGHTEEN
(BASED ON A TRUE STORY)
All Shannon wants is to get through her eighteenth birthday and graduate high school on time. But neither of those things seem to be going well. Until the hot, tattooed biker, Mateo, turns up as her after-school trig tutor and decides to teach her about what it means to be an adult.
Eighteen is hard.
And so is Mateo Alesci.
Hard to read, hard to predict, hard in every way that counts.
He wants things from me.
Dirty things, nasty things, forbidden things.
And I have to give in.
His attention is completely inappropriate, but I can’t say no.
The way he looks at me… the way he watches me through my bedroom window… the way he drags me deeper and deeper into his completely forbidden fantasy just… turns me on.
He knows it turns me on.
He holds all the power. He holds all the cards. He holds my entire future in his hands.
And I have to give in.
Because Mr. Alesci is my teacher.
And I need everything he’s offering.
READ FREE IN KINDLE UNLIMITED!
LISTEN FREE IN AUDIBLE PLUS (UNTIL 12-20-2-22)
LISTEN TO THE EIGHTEEN AUDIOBOOK TEASER!
NARRATED BY AVA ERICKSON!
CLICK THE VID TO HEAR A SAMPLE.
GIVEAWAY #8
EIGHTEEN GIFT SET
WHAT’S IN THE GIFT SET!
1. SIGNED PAPERBACK OF EIGHTEEN
2. TEA AND CANDLE SPA GIFT SET
3. HANDMADE CANDLE MAT
4. HANDMADE CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS
5. FAIRY LIGHTS TIN
6. $25 Gift Card
7. POWER OF MAGIC MAGNET
AND HERE’S HOW TO ENTER TO WIN TODAY’S GIFT SET!
(1) COMMENT HERE on the blog (below) and tell me –
HOW HARD WAS BEING 18 FOR YOU?
WAS IT A RELIEF?
WAS IT A NIGHTMARE?
WAS IT JUST LIKE ANY OTHER DAY?
I think 18 was hard. That’s why I wrote this book. 🙂 It was a shock to realize that, as of that day–the day I turned 18–no one was responsible for me any more. Not everything in the first few chapters of this book (which is literally based on my life at 18) happened the way I wrote it. It didn’t all happen on the same day. But pretty much all of it DID happen. 😉
AND HERE is a sneak peek of tomorrow’s giveaway!
Make sure you stop by and enter!
BTW – THERE ARE THREE EASY WAYS TO STAY IN TOUCH with me.
ONE – FOLLOW THIS BLOG – FILL OUT THE FORM BELOW and you will be notified via email whenever I put up a new blog post. I usually do this about once a month unless I’m having a cover reveal, or a new release, or something special like this 12 Days of Giveaways. This is not a newsletter list. It’s ONLY tied to BLOG POSTS.
TWO – JOIN MY NEWSLETTER – you will get an email when I send a newsletter. I don’t send very many. Maybe once a month unless I’m up to something special. But you will NOT be notified of blog posts.
DON’T FORGET TO CONFIRM YOUR EMAIL or it won’t sign you up.
THREE – or if you don’t like to get emails – YOU CAN JOIN MY FACEBOOK GROUP. This is where I hang out on the daily. We’ve got a nice group going with ZERO DRAMA. And if you ever have a question about something, you can tag me in there and I’ll answer you. I’m literally in there all day, every day.
I HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A VERY HAPPY HOLIDAY AND NEW YEAR.
Stay calm, stay safe, and let’s have a great 2023!
WINNERS FOR ALL GIVEAWAYS will be chosen on December 14 and announced on my blog and in my newsletter. All gifts will be mailed on December 15th with priority mail, so hopefully you get them before the big day. ALL MY GIVEAWAYS ARE ALWAYS OPEN INTERNATIONAL.
719 Responses
It was half and half. Good and bad. Have a great day all.
18 wasn’t really a big deal. I was working and living at home. Things,didn’t really change until I was 19.
It was really hard for me. I wanted out of my parents house but didn’t have money so tried to make some by attempting odd jobs like being a stripper.
Eighteen was year I had a pregnancy scare and started taking birth control pills. My very strict Catholic mother discovered my secret and practically disowned me. It’s some serious sh*t when you are an only child and your Mom takes all your pictures off the wall. Was glad to get married at 19!
Well, it damn sure wasn’t easy. But, I did my best.
At 18 I thought life was a party, wish I had applied myself more and made better decisions,
18 was extremely hard for me as I left home at 15 and worked full time to support myself then got pregnant and had to quit school because I was so sick. I would never want to be a teenager again. I like being in my 40’s. BTW I loved eighteen
For me it was like any normal day. I loved what i was doing, and the upcoming adventure of college, and getting the heck out of HS which I really disliked.
18 wasn’t a big deal. I just couldn’t wait for 21.
18 was no big deal. Just preparing to go to college…so maybe it was a big deal…lol
hahaha I love it!
18 was a really rough year for me. I found out girls that I have known since I was 4 were never really my friends. When my life got hard, they bailed on me and if they were ever on fire I would not even spit on them.
I’m first! Almost lol now to go back and actually read what Q and A I’m actually supposed to give lol
I was already away at college when I turned 18, Oct birthday. I remember just being excited to be away and doing things I had never done before.
18 was hard. I had a baby at 17. Got married at 18 not a good marriage at all. Was depressed and unhappy.
Hope your life is a bit better now
For me it was like any other day. I was still in school living at home with my parents at the time
18 was weird, I turned 18 before my senior year so I felt like an adult stuck in high school.
Honestly though it wasn’t that bad, my parents are great and I just finished school and got ready for college. Nothing much happens in small town Oklahoma
18 was kinda rough. I thought I was grown up and knew it all. I knew nothing but that year I learned a lot. About people, about life, and most of all about who I am.
Was just another day to me.
i had fun at 18…still lived at home going to college full time and working part time. my friends gave me a surprise party too!
18 was ok. I was working at 16 and when I graduated, I just got a different job and kept working so I could help my parents out.
When I was 18 I was a single mother living with my sons grandmother. It was hard but I enjoyed every minute of it and have no regrets. It was easier than when I was 28 with number 5!
It was kind of a nightmare and a relief.
Turning 18 was just like any other day for me.
18 was hard for me. At the time, my mother was an alcoholic & I was the only one able to hold a job. A lot of the “parent” responsibility was on me. I am very thankful that she was able to get sober (& stay that way) in my 22nd year.
Being 18 sucked. Still had four months of high school, living at home, and with a 10pm curfew. Even on nights I worked. I was dating a guy who was 7 years older, out of the army and the rents hated it. I married the guy a year later and then they liked him him and I didn’t. What a hot mess of hormones.
18 was just like any other day. Turning 30 was a big deal
18 was hard. My parents were very strict so I was glad to get to college but I was also very nervous because I didn’t know many social skills.
At 18 I was chucked out my family home from my mum over a disagreement – I had no where to stay so I went to my friends, I had work the next day and I never miss work so at work I was trying to figure out where I was going to go .. then my step dad wasn’t using his flat as he had recently decided to move back with my mum and had a free house so I went there and my brother came with me that night and moved in with me to help out with bills etc I had to find another job as I also had a car to pay for, 18 was a tough year for me but I have since forgiven my mum and we are close now but in all honestly my whole life has been one big drama and 18 has kind of pin started it haha, im 24 now so hopefully most the drama has now been and gone 😇
You rose to the occasion, Kimberley! So good for you! It’s hard being young. It’s fun, but it’s so much easier being older! lol
18 overall was fine. I’d say earlier was more difficult, K-12 school-wise. Starting college was a HUGE adjustment though, since I was always told what a special snowflake I was academically and suddenly was the “dumb” one of my group of friends. Living on the honors floor of a science dorm was definitely a rude awakening.
It was rough. I had just finished school,moved in with my then boyfriend, had a baby. And was looking for work to support my baby.
18 was a relief for me because I need to get out from under a controlling extreme religious household. And telling your caregivers you liked other girls at 11 when first figuring your feelings out and coming to terms with being “different” didn’t go over well, and there was extreme repercussions for something I couldn’t help feelings. Feel the pain physically and mentally-did I ever. I’ve forgiven for my own mental health a long long time ago(I’m 33) but still have the scars as a reminder daily.
Things can always be better but things sure as hell can always get worse!! 😜 so stay positive we shall!
Much love ladies and gents👒🎩
18 wasn’t any different than earlier years because my parents made all of us kids get a job and start paying rent when we turned 16. And we were dirt poor so there was no car for me to use. We lived in a tiny town that didn’t even have a stoplight. Honestly I couldn’t wait to get away from my parents and be on my own. Probably why I got married at 19.
Being 18 was pretty hard I already had a baby who had difficulties because he was 3 months premature and a boyfriend who had just joined the military. In the end it turned out great.
It was really just another day for me.
18 was hard but so was every year before. The silver lining was now I can choose my own fate.
18 was in part a transition period for me. I was a senior in high school and my boyfriend/fiance of 2 years (he was 6 years older than me) broke things off with me. I had been in an emotional and physical abusive relationship for 2 years prior to him and he had grounded me. He had been good for me at the time but I knew deep down that he wasn’t meant to be “the one”. I ended up dating “the one” a few months later and am now happily married to my high school sweetheart for 28 years. (Been together for 30)
18 was a little different for me than your average 18 y/o female. I had my first child in high school so at 18 I had already been a mom for a couple
years.
But at 18 I did finished high school, like other 18 y/o do ….and that summer moved out of the nest with my now husband.
Honestly I wouldn’t change a thing. I was in a loving place with tons of support ❤️ 18 was a good year for me !
Turning 18 was fun and easy for me as I was lucky enough to still have as much family support as I wanted/needed. Heck at 51 I still do (which is good given my disability!).
18 wasn’t bad. Had some good and bad experiences. First time on my own away from family.
Turning 18 was scary for me. I was terrified to leave home for life’s endeavors.
My bff at the time was 2 years younger than me and her birthday was a day before mine. So we had a big party and got shitfaced. I was already on my own but was moving to a new town where I didn’t know anyone but my mom and step dad a week later. I only moved in with them so I could finish school. Then I was getting the hell out of that town. Well dumb me fell in love. Now you can’t drag me out of here. That was 29 years, 1 husband, and 3 kids ago. It was a rough year but I survived it.
I haven’t had a hard time with any of the “big” ages. I was just excited to start my life as an adult!
18 was great! I had the “Boyfriend” of my dreams, lol to know then what i know now. School was typical small town school new girl (me) had boyfriend who was super jock and everyone wanted him. Girls said only thing that made me pretty was my hair. insert eye roll. UGH jealous much!!! That summer i was a fair and rodeo queen and I WAS LIVING LIFE!!! small town parties, great family and my horses, then i followed “Boyfriend” to college and life changed, shit got real, decisions, jobs, school, life and growing up! I loved this 18 book!!!! and your EBOS talking about you and your bestie at the time, took me back to when I was 21 not 18! But loved it, growing pains are good and make you the person you are today!!!!!
For me it was like any other day
18 was good for me. I was a no drama kind of teen. The quiet, shy bookworm.
For me it was like any other day.
II was living in Australia and 18 is the legal drinking age. I went to the pub with my friends and ordered a soft drink. My friends thought I was nuts. I didn’t drink so it didn’t mean anything to me,
My Mum was pretty strict, so I was always getting moaned at about how late I got home as I was out and about enjoying life with my mates. Went clubbing Thursday, Friday and Saturday then the pub Sunday night. Always managed to get up and go to work, there was no chance my Mum would let me bunk off just cos I’d been out till late 🤣
Well it was just like any day for me except I was allowed to make my own decisions as a adult and was old enough to buy cigarettes lol
I felt free but really no different at all.
Being 18 was a nightmare. I was on my own when I was sixteen, ended up with a guy 13 years older than me when I was 18. He was an abusive, alcoholic, fucked up, piece of shit person. It was a part of this life–2 years of it–I don’t want to ever relive. But on a positive note, it taught me to be a stronger person and to not put up with shit.
I loved being 18! I took the summer off from working and just hung out with friends until college started.
18 I thought I was may more mature than I really was.
18 was really really hard. I was a very young mum and with absolutely no family support yeah it was very tough. I don’t think I could be that age again LOL. Happy Holidays 😊 thanks so much 🎅🎄☃️
18 was hard because my dad was relocated to another state. My initial plan was to stay out and move in with my best friend’s family, but my parents quickly squashed that and said if I couldn’t make it on my own, I was moving with them. Of course I couldn’t make it on my own so I moved (I think I agreed because deep down I didn’t want to live with her family). Hindsight, I needed to go with my parents. But it was a hard move because I didn’t fit in and make friends easily. But nothing monumental happened to me other than the move.
18 meant more freedom of choices. It meant that I could vote and also go to bars to party in NY. Pennsyltucky was still 21 for drinking. Going off to college and making new friends. I just remember enjoying the hell out it.
When I was 18, I was already a wife, mother of a two year old and working a full time job in a laundry.
Due to a poor home life with no father I fell in love with my first boyfriend, ended up pregnant, got married at 15 to a man who resented me and treated me like dirt for years. So my teen years weren’t very pleasant at all. I’m 68 now remarried 30 years ago, my son is 52 and lives in Texas.
Eighteen was hard, I had started college but I was tired of school. Then I met my husband at my part time job and quit college and my parents got mad at me. But eventually it all worked out I’m still married to my guy and I went back to college later. That year though it was hard!
It was just like any other day for me. 🤷🏼♀️
Oh Mateo 💗 It’s been so long ago since I read this! I’m going to have to go read it again now! At 18 I was so happy to be graduate high school! But it was a nervous time too because I was leaving home to go to college.
18 was just like any other day for me, I was about to Graduate high school living at home and had it made. I was blessed my parents paid for everything for me and the money I made working I got to use for fun.
It was exciting. I couldn’t wait. The best year ever. Graduated and got married. Been married 48 years this past July 14th. Merry Christmas
Hi – I definitely think 18 was a hard age for me. I was out of state for the first two years of college and I learned a lot about myself and was able to grow and become more independent.
18 for me was being a mom and a wife. Had my 1st kiddo at 15, married at 17 to my sons dad. Had our 2nd child at 18. 31 years later still loving life ❤️
I don’t think turning 18 was a big deal, just another day. 🤷♀️
18 was very hard for me, lost my boyfriend due to a drunk driver.
18 was no different than being 14 for me. I was a child slave, molested, raped, was raising my three younger brothers after my mom was killed. From a very young age I was tending to kids, cooking, cleaning, doing kids homework, taking them to doctors without even having a driver’s license. Filling out wic forms, food stamps forms, doctor forms, toting a brother on each hip to and from school because two of my brothers and father was a dwarf. Even at 18 I was working 2 jobs, going to college, and still cooking and tending to my brothers.
18 was a very freeing time for me, although financially difficult because I was on my own. I definitely remember feeling like there were “rules” I had to follow that didn’t make any sense realistically. I questioned everything.
I definitely couldn’t write a book about my 18th year of life. It wasn’t the best but it could have certainly been worse.
At the time, I thought it was terrible but looking back it wasn’t so bad.
18 was just another day .. 19 I could legally drink and such so that was a bigger deal
It did not bring me joy, so I rolled with the punches to fight on.
I had a step dad I couldn’t stand so I left California and moved to Tucson Arizona. I learned adulting pretty fast!!
It’s was an amazing time, I went out on my own and started life.
It was like any other day as I had three jobs while attending school.
It was okay. I had a steady boyfriend. We had dinner at my parent’s house along with cake and ice cream. He got me a bracelet.
It was so long ago I hardly remember it. I think it was good, flatting and working by that time. Or I was still studying, 1 year in tourism, like I said I can’t remember lol
Was so looking forward to turning 18, but when the day came it was no different than the day before. Not the best time in my life. If I could know what I know now I think things might have turned out differently.
Wouldn’t change the last twenty years for anything.
18 I remember thinking I’m finally in charge of myself . Kinda scary but I think I did okay . Learned a lot . Responsibilities..lol
My first book I read of yours.
Thank you
I was beginning my career as a aide to a young girl with Muscular Dystrophy and also volunteer EMT and firefighter. Hardly ever home. But still made time for my family.
Like any other day, but me and my family did celebrate it with a limousine
It wasn’t a big deal for me.
I think turning 18 was a relief, I was ready to leave the drama of high school and be an adult. But, I had supportive parents and wasn’t just out on my own. I was just ready for a job and the next stage of life.
Ya know, I loved being 18. Life was pretty darn great tbh and I thankfully never felt any of the bs most youth feel today. Thank goodness I grew up when I did.
Thanks, as always!! xx
Turning 18 was great for me! I moved out to my first apartment by myself (I had been saving and planning since I turned 16). I couldn’t wait to move out and be on my own. I had great parents but the both smoked cigarettes in the house all the time so I always smelled like a bar. That’s the main reason I moved out at 18. It was a great experience for me.
Being 18 wasn’t as bad, but beginning my life in the military at that time was a little hard before it got easier. I faced depression and wasn’t easy to fit into a place away from home. I think that as time moved on it got easier, but it was a difficult time and learning more about the world and how cruel it could be really proved I’m grown.
At 18 I felt a sense of freedom. Done with high school and my part time job turned into a full time job. Had more money and freedom. I didn’t take long for me to realize I needed to do something more if I wanted out of my parents house. This was the 2nd year being in relationship with my now husband. So I had more freedom, more money and no bills! I’m sure I kill some brain cell during this time!
18 was good for me as I live in the UK and became an ‘adult’ and could legally drink
18 was exciting and scary. I married my H.S. sweetheart. I was beginning to figure out who I was. Would I want to go back -Not a chance!!
18 was a mix of emotions. Senior year in high school, became pregnant and the father ended up passing away. It was difficult year being 18 but I don’t regret a thing.
Being 18 felt no different then being 17. It just meant I was graduating High School
A relief, I was done with highschool. I lived with my mom. So I took over paying the bills, at 18. But it wasn’t a big deal. My mom was 38 when she had me. So she was older and had a few health issues than.
I think 18 was a fun year for me as I was just graduating from high school and moving away for college.
I mean. Some good and some bad. I didn’t really have any best friends in school. But I hung out with a few people. So kind of lonely.
I want to read this so bad. I have often meditated on being 18 and the old question of “if you could go back to then would you?” (Current answer, only if I knew what I know now) My mom was a cool mom. At 18 she sat me down and told me she could no longer make decisions for me. She would listen if I needed her to help or advice. What an amazing gift. And how I wish I would have asked her more (she died when I was 25)
18 was exciting for me..I was in my second year at University, paying my own way through school..and felt like an adult for the first time
Turning 18 was fantastic. I could get my passport. I could travel. I could escape. I could get away. I was told you’ll never see your father — he’s halfway around the world. I turned 18. I got my passport. I earned up $200. My father sent me a round trip ticket. I packed two borrowed suitcases. In January I flew from VA to NY to the Cape Verde Islands to Johannesburg to Capetown. 27 hours. I got to sit in the copilot seat and talk to the pilots at 2 am. I ate and drank and met ppl I never thought in a million years would happen. It was a time I will never forget. I spent a month catching up with my father, making up for six years, creating new memories. I had the time of my life with him. I had to come back to reality but 40 years later, those memories still make me smile.
It was just another day
Hard trying to be adult and still being treated as a teenager rebellious fighting with parents ect
For me it was a great day! 🙂 With lots of fun and family time.
It’s like the old saying…if I only knew then what I know now!! Tough times.
Eighteen was hard. I thought it would be wonderful, but it wasn’t.
18 was just another day for me I had a 1 yr old at that point and had been out of the family home since I was 16 however I was taking care of myself long before that.
I8 was great! 21 was hell.
Eighteen for me was hard. I was dating a man my father hated- in fairness I was 18, he was 28. I moved out of my dad’s house and in with this man who was mentally abusing me.
I didn’t realize it at the time but I had secluded myself to him and cut everyone else off in my life.
I really don’t Romberg turning 18 being any different than my other birthdays. Turning 19 was more of a milestone.
Eighteen was hard. My mom died of lung cancer that year.
I got engaged the week before my 18th birthday, so 18 was exciting for me. I went off to college about 10 hours from home, worked hard at school and a part time job, and found a little time for fun. We didn’t get married until after college graduation (my parent’s stipulation to help with college expenses), but we’ll be celebrating our 30th anniversary in May.
I’m old do it was exciting didn’t get on my own till 19. And back then 😳 but I have awesome parents and I was excited to vote. I’ve missed very few elections in my years 😊
18 was pretty good. I actually started college at 17 and turned 18 not too long afterward.
I was on scholarship and in Honors college, so studying hard.
High school was split 2 years in CA and 2 years in VA. So the goal was to spend 4 years in the same place!!
18 for me was just like any other day. My life took a different course at 19.
Just another day for me. My twenties were harder though.
Eighteen was difficult. Looking back I wish I had more confidence and I wish I realized then other people’s opinions did not matter. Just me. And that I was perfect the way I was.
18 was exciting, no steady boyfriend, I got a tattoo, looking forward to graduating high school. Just wish I hadn’t been so ready to grow up, taken things slower would have been better.
18 was not too bad for me. I got married that year so I had to go from teenager to grownup pretty quick
18 was pretty hard for me as I was painfully shy and it was very hard to find my way in the adult world.
Turning 18 was just another day for me.
18 sucked. I got married and found myself in an abusive relationship. Learned a lot of hard lessons.
Turning eighteen was just another day for me. I was already living on my own and going to school so there was not much of a change.
At 18, I was still in high school for about five more months. I had a high school boyfriend who was my best friend. It turned out he was gay and was struggling with that. Knowing that a few years later sure did explain a lot. He met his husband right around the time I met mine about a decade later, and we’re still friends today. I have really fond memories of being 18, not of high school, but of my friendships at that time. Somehow I graduated with honors because high school wasn’t hard. I was bored and didn’t want to attend classes. I had to drag myself. I think I’m undiagnosed AuDHD. That sure would explain a lot, too, if I could afford all those tests.
Loved being 18!!! Started college, lived away from home, met new people, had my first real boyfriend! Best time of my life!!!!
18 was awful for me. I don’t remember my birthday but everything was rough around that time. My teenage years sucked and it’s sad to look back on.
I have an almost 11yo so I’m hoping that her experiences will be different 🥰
I love 18. The audiobook is amazing and I love knowing that a lot of it really happened 😊
When I was 18, I was still a pretty naive girl. After having spent 8 years in Catholic School, and then moving on to public school, I still had quite a bit of the Catholic School guilt going, lol. I really didn’t think much about the future.
I’m 47 and still have the Catholic guilt thing going on! lol
Julie you give so much of yourself In everything you do. Thank you.
Like most of my fellow seniors I could not wait to turn 18 and graduate. So exciting, not. I turned 18 during the school year so it was just another day of school. I had just caught my fiancé cheating so my life was grey and unhappy. Personally I was waiting on 21 when it was legal to drink in my State. Because at 18 I really needed to tie one on.
I remember the day vividly. I had started college classes 2 days earlier & felt overwhelmed eating lunch by myself because I knew no one. I had to grow up early due my Mom being ill in high school & it was just she & I. But somehow, turning 18 made all the responsibility feel more real, heavier, lonely. Of course it ultimately made me stronger. Eighteen is one of my faves & was one of my early reads of yours!
This was my 1st J A Huss book and I still recommend it tons!! I’ve read them all and loved them all since then. I’m a school nurse for an alternative charter school, I refer us lovingly as concentrated OJ. We may have a little more “troubles” but I’m so fortunate to get to give them the love and support they need (like I wish I had). We have graduated kids that have been given up on by society and I’m grateful to be part of our school and interacting/supporting our kids 🖤
18 was hard. I was in love with my best friend and he used that to his advantage and I was heartbroken for most of that year. He chase away anyone who wanted to talk to me but he could do whatever he wanted. Glad I smarted up and walked away from that mess. Just wish I didn’t wait to long to do it. Thank you 🎄
It was both a relief and nightmare. Relief because I had graduated and moved out of my small hometown, nightmare because I learned moving an hour away from my small hometown wasn’t any better. A few months after I turned 18 was amazing, though, because I moved from the midwest to NYC and became a live-in nanny. That’s when the real fun started….
It was something I that I looked forward to.I was an adult and the rest of my life was just ahead of me. I was old enough to drink
18 was hard for me. I worked two jobs, one overnight; went to school full time; allowed myself to be introduced to the wrong people; was in a really bad wreck; fell two credits short of graduating; drank a lot; got high a lot; got kicked out of my parents’house (totally my fault); ended up sleeping out of my car. I was the good girl before then, advanced classes, all that, and shit blew up. Thankfully I grew and learned from it. I think it made me a better person.
My 18th was so so ,since I’m more of a loner I just read and mom and sis and brother had me a little cake
18 was just another day for me. I was more excited to turn 21 so I could legally drink lol
Yes 18 was hard for me. That is when the relationship I was in really became abusive.
It was just like any other day. I won’t go into details, but my childhood wasn’t fun most part and my 18th birthday was a result of it.
My 18th birthday was scary and exciting. My daughter was 10 months old and we were moving out on our own. Just me and my little girl. It was the best feeling ever but also scary because I had no one to catch us if I failed us.
Being 18 was a mixture of hard and just another day. I did go on my first trip over seas, but planning college and thinking about the future was hard.
18 had it’s good along with the bad. Thought I knew everything boy was I wrong.
It has been awhile since I’ve read Eighteen going to reread this weekend, like I have so many of your books. THANK you for all the great books
Most of my teens were rough! I’d have to say at 18 is where I saw reason and started not to care about somethings and what people thouhht of me! I cut out toxic people out of my life! Never hid my thoughts… I was basically living in the you like me great, you hate me that’s wonderful and I don’t care… I live my life for me attitude! …. 18 was when I became the best version of myself. Here we are at 42 and living with the same attitude!
I was half way through my first year of college, working 30 hours a week. I loved to dance, but didn’t drink. At 18, I could finally go to clubs. I’d go out every Friday after work and dance till closing.
18 was a nightmare. My mother had her first chemo treatment on my eighteenth birthday. I became responsible for raising my three-year-old sister that day. My options for going away to college left that day as I needed to stay close to home to take care of them. My dreams of moving away died that day as did my mother did on exactly that same day two years later. 18 can go fuck itself.
I found turning 18 to be no big deal. the decades are the hard ones. I really had a hard time with turning 30 and 50.
It was just like any other day. colby69@verizon.net
I don’t really remember my actual eighteenth birthday. I figure it was made special as my family home life was wonderful. However, the year I was eighteen was horrible. When I was sixteen my family was hit hard by a death in our family. Devastation isn’t strong enough of a word. It felt like we were hit by a bomb. A bomb that didn’t affect anyone else. Shortly after I started dating an older man who introduced me to alcohol and we dated for almost two years until we broke up when I was close to my eighteenth birthday. Unfortunately the things he introduced me to were the things that took away the pain, loss, grief if just for a little while and I continued to do them after we broke up. What I hadn’t realized was that doing them with him provided me a safety net. Without that safety net I had a very bad experience with someone who took from me what I didn’t want to do. I was too embarrassed to tell anyone until a new girl moved into the town and was going to go out with him and I was concerned that he would do the same thing to her so I told her. Unfortunately, that was social suicide. Everyone found out and because he was someone who supplied alcohol to everyone most sided with him. I just wanted to be left alone, but he and his minions bullied and threatened me. I was too determined not to show how it affected me so I kept trying to live my life like I had been which wasn’t good either. So called friends dropped like flies and those who would stay loyal I pushed away because I didn’t want them caught in the hell I was living. Eventually my family found out. That didn’t go well. They love me, but didn’t know how to help or deal with what was going on. My one saving grace was being accepted into a selective program in a school of radiography out of town. After I graduated from high school I left. I go back to see my parents and I have family there. Funny thing is I still love my hometown. There are people there who I just hope will leave me alone. I never want to see some of them again. The year I turned sixteen and experienced the death is still the worst year of my life, but the year I turned eighteen is definitely the second worse of my life.
Reading your book Eighteen and reading some of the other people’s comments I see that I’m not alone in grief or misery and as I already knew I was extremely lucky to have the love and support of my family. I appreciate that you not only wrote a published Eighteen, but that you shared with us that it’s semi- autobiographical. We all need to know that others have gone through things and that we’re not alone in having some experiences. Thank you.
Also, thank you for the 12 Days of Christmas giveaways. You are very generous and I am grateful for the excitement it brings into my life.
I went to school and I went to work. That is pretty much it.
I was happy enough actually – finishing off highschool and getting ready for university.
18 was easy. I left home at 16 because of an abusive stepfather so by the time I turned 18 I was working and on my own.
18 was very liberating for me!!! I no longer felt like I had to be under my parents thumb and doing what I was told and trying to constantly live up to their expectations. With freedom came some good decisions and some bad but they were mine to make. But it made me who I am today! A strong woman who doesn’t need a man to take care of me, I take care of me. Ty! So much for this chance at this wonderful prize!💕💋
It was like any other day for me.
I moved out of my mothers house on my 18th birthday. When I went to sleep in my new place my first thought was if I feel home sick. When I woke up I thought to my self, nope, not one bit. I was looking forward to starting my life my way. There were a lot of heartbreak in my life, but you must continue on.
I had it easy at 18. I had supportive family and friends, a job and clear plan for college.
Being 18 was easy for me.
I would not want to go back!
Turning 18 wasn’t so bad for me. I would say my middle school years were the worst for me. Kids (one boy in particular) tried to bully me a lot for my weight & other stuff. By my freshman year of HS I had lost weight & started standing up for myself! So by 18 I had a fuck you attitude! If you liked me great, if you didn’t fuck off! I had my core people & that works for me! Still does to this day!
At 18, I was reeling from a breakup and decided to join the Army! Turned out to be the best decision of my life although it was rough at times.
18 I graduated, got my license and got my first car. It was the last year of being a kid for me basically because 19 I got my first job and got pregnant with my first child lol. It was pretty great!
I think it was fine. I graduated when I was 18. Nothing bad that would cause me to remember it poorly, nothing good for me to remember it as amazing.
Thanks for the chance and, seasons greetings! 🎅🏻
18 was just another day for me
Eighteen for me was pretty much like any other day. I had to grow up early and my childhood was hard.
I was married to not a very nice guy and also had a baby boy. Luckily got away from now ex-husband after a few years. But at 18 I received the best thing in my life which was my son. And he is a really good man!
18 was fun – starting college and meeting new people.
I don’t feel like 18 was too hard. I started a new job, still lived at home for another year. For me life responsibility didn’t really start until probably 22. I guess I was lucky.
It was hard I lost my dad couple of month before so not so great x
It was hard. Senior in high school and had no idea what I wanted to do with my future
Honestly, I thought 15 was the hardest because my friends were getting to do things that I wasn’t allowed to. I fought with my mom about that a lot that year. Every other teen year wasn’t bad at all.
18 was not hard. It was just another day. I still had both parents and life was pretty good
I think 18 was hard but believe 14-17 was harder. It was good to get out of a high school full of mean girls
Being 18 was Awesome. I had lots of friends, danced , went to movies ..just all good teen fun! I worked, went to school and enjoyed my friends.
My 18th birthday was great. My boyfriend took me out for a nice dinner and then “legal” drinks at a bar. I was an adult and my future was in my hands.
18 was awful! I wanted out of school and wanted to be away from all the classmates that made my life hell our senior year!
18 for me was wonderful, I was finally free. The day after my 18th birthday I packed up all of my necessities while my mother was at work and fled to my bosses house to be free of her controlling and unloving ways. I couldn’t get out of the situation until then. 18 was a great year 🙂
18 was hard, but it wasn’t the hardest for me. It was different because I was so unsure of who I was and what I wanted in life.
18 years old was great. I moved out for the first time for school.
To be honest, 18 was just another year. It was my first year of university, which was hard, but it would have been hard at any age.
18 was awesome! I had a job, a car, went to college and totally thought I was living my best life. Would I do it again? No Freaking Way!
I wouldn’t say it was a nightmare, but it was harder than it should have been. I had one year old twins and still graduated high school. Love my kids, didn’t love the struggle.
My 18th was just another day. I was a few days from graduating high school.
Being eighteen had some good days along with the bad days.
18 (really all of my later teen years) was hard for me too. It was certainly a time in my life where I was putting my trust in the wrong people and was being abandoned by people I thought would always be a part of my life. Just one of these people was my father, who had always been a big part of my life until that point. So I felt very out of control at a time when I’d been led to believe I was supposed to be taking control of my life. My attempts to regain control on my life only made it spiral out of control even worse until I reached a breaking point around 20/21. I’ve gained enough perspective to not blame others for my actions, but there certainly was a lot that set the stage for my bad choices, and I would never wish to go back, or for anyone else to deal with what I did. But I did survive and I am a better/stronger person for it, even if still broken in some ways. 😊 Can’t imagine why I like your style of writing, huh? Lol!
18 was a nightmare living with foster boys and trying to keep them out of my room. I started locking my door at night but was told that’s a fire hazard but I would rather not have someone I didn’t love on top of me. Of course my parents didn’t believe me. One never knows how hurt I was. Only way to protect myself was to leave but that didn’t last long cause I was forced back. Would never want to relive that nightmare but it keeps coming back
I honestly believed that turning 18 would somehow change my life, make things different in a manner that is difficult to describe & also completely unnecessary as I was, of course, wrong. I went out drinking to celebrate (which wasn’t new, altho not legal) & then headed off to college, law school, etc. etc. However, altho I had plenty of problems through the years, unlike almost all of my friends, I would love to be able to go back to 18 (17) and do things over. I’m not even asking to go back with all the knowledge gained throughout young adulthood through midlife. I would just like to go back for a second chance. I don’t know that anything would change, but it would be interesting to see if it does. When I first went to college (18 the entire freshman year) I clung so tightly to my high school friends that I neglected to make more college friends from the beginning. I would make more of an effort to fit in, meet new people & basically do exactly what I did but paying attention while it happened. I wouldn’t go home every three weeks or so & have ppl stay at college continuously. I actually have a lovely group of college friends now with whom I’m in touch constantly (by email, phone, etc.) but that might have expanded if I had opened myself up to the possibilities. I’m thinking of a DeLorean…
18 didn’t seem like big of a deal, I was excited for sure, but nothing major really happened.
A month after I turned 18 I got married, no I wasn’t pregnant, thought I was in love and it would be forever, looking back I think it was because I finally had someone who seemed to want to take care of me and treated me well. I was a mature 18 year and went through some rough crap, anyways 3 daughters and 3 granddaughters later, we separated after almost 32 years of marriage, no regrets due to my girls and thanks to your books I’ve come to learn we both didn’t love each other the way we could or should have!
18 for me was rough. My family moved to a new city my senior year. I had a hard time making friends. People seemed snobby & I had social anxiety because of my psoriasis that was pretty bad. I did find two good friends that year but, yeah, it was tough.
Turning 18 wasn’t a big deal for me…until it hit me that I was now responsible for my own health and car insurance. It was then that I realized EVERYTHING my mom has done for me ever since I was born and was so very thankful for the things my mom has stayed on top of and took care of for me!! Turning 18 was a wake up call for me and what it truly meant to be an adult!
18 was a journey…screwed up home life and looking for a way to escape. I got married the next year, and by the time I was 20 had my first child. Today I’m thankful I had children early…my life is amazing and because of that I’m not sure I would change anything that happened on my way here. But man…shew…18 was tough….
Age 18 got married transition from my family to my husband life was a big deal and felt foreign and free. It was good.
It was different. I graduated at 17, was in a serious relationship at 18 with a former classmate, and married him at 19. Marriage was a learning curve for both of us, living with each other, being adults, and being on our own while keeping our parents out of our business. We welcomed our daughter into our family six years later. I’m glad we had those years alone, with just the two of us. It helped us grow as a couple. Our marriage has not been all rainbows. We both made big mistakes, but we worked on them. Our communication skills grew, and we now know each other better. We have been married for over 38 years and are more in love now than when we married. I told my husband that sex in our late 50s (59, to be exact) is better than it was in our 20s; we know so much more now. Haha!
I hated being 18! But luckily life has gotten drastically better since then lol.
I was away at college so it was like any other day.
18 wasn’t bad. I graduated right after. I moved out doing the college thing and had a job. Now 19 was a different story!!!
Being 18 was a relief. I missed most of a term that year. When I did go back to school, I could only go part time for a while. Being 18 meant that I could sign myself in or out without having to get permission from my busy mother. I loved 18.
It felt like any other day as far as living at home with family. Just with the excitement of graduating high school and starting college.
18 wasn’t any different for me than any other day.
My 18th year was the worst of my life but it is the reason I am the person I am today so I wouldn’t change it for anything
confusing
The year I turned 18 was the year they lowered the drinking age to 18… need I say more. It was a fantastic year. Back in the day. Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll.😎
For me it was just like any other day, lol. Last year at college (high school) so a little sad at the end of the year with leaving school and friends.
It was AWESOME! First year of college. On my own for the first time. Met my future husband (we married a year later and are still together after 44 years).
It was an emotional day, the day I turned 18 because I found out my parents were getting divorced. I overheard my father and my mother discussing it in their closed bedroom door. My room was next to their’s. I was walking into my bedroom when I heard one of them say “we’re not like other couples getting divorced.” It was a complete shock to me because I thought they were so happy. Come to find out my father was cheating on my mother. Pretty s***** way to find out they’re getting divorced. So that year was kind of rocky trying to Help my mother clean up the house to be sold because my father wanted the money. And I needed to help My mother find a new place to live that accepted pets and wasn’t too far away from where we had already been living.
But now 21 years later I am very glad they did get divorced because my mother is so much happier.
I think 18 is hard for most people. You’re told you’re an adult with real adult decisions to make but with no experience. Even though our lives and experiences make us who we are today I would change almost everything I did back then. Not the best time in my life. Don’t mean to be such a downer but it was fucking hard
Pretty hard. Just started first semester of college and mouth was wired shut from oral surgery.
I don’t remember so it probably was like any other day.
My 18th birthday was pretty awesome. I was living at home but qualified as a registered veterinary nurse on that day. It felt like the statt of adulthood for me and independence.
It was hard but also very freeing in a sense. I had strict parents and felt very trapped before. Becoming a legal adult allowed me to finally make decisions for myself.
I turned 18 in March so I was having a blast, finishing out all of my senior year activities. I had an amazing summer before getting my first full time job and having to be responsible for myself. Then the best thing happened, a boy I had fallen for at age 14 called me out of the blue. He had moved out of state, but then returned when I was 18. We had instant chemistry! He had been my first kiss, and upon his return we connected at a whole new level. It was intense. We were together for 8 months and then tragically he was killed in a race car accident. I have beautiful memories of those months when I was 18. Thanks for your book of your experiences and for bringing my memories back for me.
It was just any other day. I moved out at 16, had my daughter at 17. We already had our own apartment before our daughter was born.
18 was a mixture of ups and downs, definitely more ups. I enjoyed being 18 and being optimistic for the future…oh if I only knew lol.
I think 18 was hard for me, being raised by a single Mom of 3, my Mom wanted us to go to college but had no money for it. So I worked for a few years to help us pay the bills, then applied to Community College, received financial aid, graduated and went to get my Bachelor’s degree. I was the first in the family to go to college and when I started working, I made sure to take care of my Mom. She’s given me everything, and I want her to have a good life. 🙏🏻❤️
18 was hard. Bad relationships, bad choice. Felt so grown up yet so unprepared. Lots if lessons learned that year.
18 was hard. Pregnant with twins right after graduating high school… Not an easy time.
I was so glad to finally turn 18! I graduated at 17 and it held me back from doing things because I wasnt old enough. I was so excited to finally be an adult, now I wish I could go back and slow it down be a kid a bit longer.
Just another day. But it was a good year!
It was great. I got my drivers license(late because I failed the first time lol), bought myself a car, had a boyfriend and had a full-time job while also attending college at night.
18 was hard. Just had a baby, living on my own, no help, lost my car, lost my job…. A lot of bad. I made decisions the best I could for being 18 and some of them would take years to straighten out!
When I turned 18 my mom kicked me out(she was a single mother of 5), my older brother was in the military and my mom thought that I was old enough to go find myself a place and live on my own, I was in college and started working at a nightclub as a bartender to get by, so most nights I was at work and on days I was at school. It was hard and I was so upset that I didn’t even speak to my mother for a long time.
Turning 18 was just like any other day. I was still living with my parents. I turned 18, 3 months before I graduated high school so it was cool. Thanks for the chance
Turning 18 was just like any other day. I am a summer birthday and I knew I had more school coming with college starting in the fall. I had the same job. The end of the year was terrible though. I had an autoimmune thing happen and almost died.
Kind of stressful. Knowing you graduated high school & will soon be out in the world, having a real job & real bills…..scary
18 was fine for me. Finished high school a month later than went on to college in the fall. College was an eye opener but still wasn’t quite an “adult” yet.
I was very lucky looking back in life. Turning 18 was Ike any other day except I could legally move in together with my bf. We both worked full time. I got married to him just prior to 19 and then we built a house. Have been together 25 yrs, married 23. Have had two kids since and also moved to his home state of Kentucky where we built that house and we’ve raised our kids and animals.
I was preparing for college while working.
Nothing exciting happened at 18. All of my fun happened between 19 and 21!
I learned I had severe endometriosis and had to have emergency surgery due to the size of the two biggest cysts that were about to erupt (volleyball and softball sized). So it was a pretty miserable year for me.
It was great! If I could go back in time to 18 I would do it all over again.
18 was hard and happy to leave home for college at the same time.
18 it was just any other day!! Not really much going on in that year…lol
Can’t remember! Lol
18 was like any other day.
Turning 18 was just like any other day.
Being 18 wasn’t so bad. It was interesting. I dropped out of college, got my first job at then AT&T, got married and moved out of my parent’s house and began my life of adulting. I learned to budget, run a household, cook meals regularly and deal with a domestically abusive partner when it was still legal to be one. Needless to say, that marriage didn’t last too long.
It was tough. We didn’t have alot so I worked full time and was going to HS.
18 was hard. I lost my mom when I was 17. My dad took away all my freedom, he said he was keeping me “safe” from the world. For the first time, I had a curfew, then I wasn’t allowed to go out on dates, or have friends over. He started pushing for better grades, plans for better colleges. For a girl who was already a A-B honor student who didn’t date or go to parties, it was confusing about why my father changed. So I pushed back! From 18 until I turned 22, that was the worst period in my life. Thank God, I came to my senses and got back on track with who I wanted to be!!
18 was just another day for me. I graduated from HS a year earlier and I had just started my first full time job two months earlier. That’s also the year I met my husband. That was a really good job and I stayed with that job for 11 years until I moved on to my current job.
18 was okay for me. I lived at home and went to school & worked to pay for my car. Had a lot of freedom and we were pretty wild. Then I met my husband a month after graduation and settled down. We’ve been together for 35 years, married for 31. Had up’s & downs but we have stuck it out so far!
Being 18, it was a mix of great and horrible. Great because i was going to have freedom and get out from under my parents. So having to be responsible for my sister’s, food, dinners, etc. But i also knew that wouldn’t happen until i graduated. Which i turn 18 in September, graduated in May. So had sometime. I had a job, played softball and took care of my sisters. So when i did graduate i went a little crazy
It was a relief and it was amazing but it was hard. It was a relief that no one could have that level of authority over me anymore. It was amazing bc of the roller coaster of experiences and it was hard for the same reasons. But it made me who I am today and bc of that I can’t say that I regret any of it.
Eighteen was hard!! Graduation from High School and moving 1/2 way across the country for college. While it was exciting it was also the 1st time being away from my family for longer than a few months. I don’t regret going, but it was a hard year.
18 was pretty hard for me. I got pregnant around 17 then got married at 18 also had the baby. I went through a really bad depression during that time of my life and it wasn’t pretty. I didn’t think I would survive it
When I was 18, everything was a muddle. It felt like the world was at my fingertips but I didn’t know what to do. I used to pln out every detail so this was really hard for me. I continued to work my switchboard job as I figured everything out. My mom was my safety net with her sage advice and emotional support. I supported myself financially but in every other way, my mom helped me find my way and to learn to accept life as it comes as you can’t prepare for everything. That’s probably the best thing I took away from that year that I still carry with me to this day.
Being 18 was a pivotal moment in my life. I was old enough to drink in the bars but also graduating school and being responsible for myself was a little scary. As soon as I turned 18 my parents started charging me rent. So with money responsibilities comes the worry about “What am I going to do with the rest of life and what do I want to do for a job?”. It’s a little overwhelming at the time but you just keep one foot in front of the other and keep moving forward.
I loved turning 18. It was exciting, full of new experiences and memories. Although there many new responsibilities, the freedom was exhilarating!
Ohhhh to be 18 again. No responsibilities just care free doing whatever I wanted best years
18, for me, was a few months before graduation. I couldn’t wait to get on with my life. I got married a month before I turned 19. In hindsight, I wish I had gone to college. But, all in all, even though that marriage only lasted 8 years, I don’t really have regrets. In the long run I turned out pretty damned great!
Turning 18 was like any other day, except here in Australia you are then legal to drink.
I don’t even remember turning 18
18 was 2 months after I graduated and I had a full time job. It was so easy then. I loved it.
At 18 I was a senior in high school and although I wanted to go on to college, my family felt ‘girls’ didn’t need to get a broader education. There was very little, if any, support to move on in that direction. I graduated, went to work, continued to live at home, met someone, got married, had two beautiful boys – now, a great-grandma. But, I look back sometimes, and although I would never ever want to give up my boys and their families, I do wish I would have had the opportunity to do things differently.
I was a mother of a year and a half and married by the age of eighteen. Things were a little hard, but I figured things out.
I don’t remember it, so it was probably just another day. I would have still been at home then, and birthdays weren’t celebrated with big parties. I had baked my own cake from when I was 8. I hadn’t even been allowed to date yet.
Turning 18 was just the same as any other day, working 3 jobs, first semester of a junior college, living at home with my mom and commuting to all. The only memorable thing from turning 18, was having my tonsils removed 3 days before my birthday and being only able to eat mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving dinner that year.
Eighteen was hard for me left home to go to College living on my own was a real eye opener for me.
Well, I turned eighteen when I was already in the military LOL loved it, worked all day, but I was freer than I had ever been.
I turned 18 in my first year of college, so I felt pretty out-of-sync with the atmosphere and inexperienced in relationships.
I hated being 18. I was away from home with no family support. I would not want to go back
I’m too old to remember! LOL
I think 18 was pretty good. I was still living with my mom. Didn’t know how good I had it.
Just another Day.
It was just like any other day for me.
I had a lot of great times, but then all my closest friends moved away to college and I was alone so that sucked
For me, turning eighteen was just another day. My life experiences made me grow up earlier than my peers, so being responsible as an “adult” was not a new development. I celebrated with my family, but overall nothing changed.
It was great. I was getting ready for college. Had a steady boyfriend
At 18, I had escaped a difficult childhood, and like any prisoner released, went overboard in celebrating. I was in college by my 18th birthday. I thought classes were optional, parties were mandatory, and sex was a sport. So.. I guess 18 was good for 18 year-old me, but bad on the PTSD trauma kid I was.
I loved this book! To answer the question: no, 18 was not hard for me. I was excited, because I had a plan & followed it! Thanks for the chance!
18 was different for me then most others in that me and my high school sweetheart got married, he joined the Navy and we had our first child. We were living a different life than most others.
I was already in college so it was just another day for me.
I was living on my own and a full time college student with 2 jobs. Tried lots of things I had never done. It was a pretty great time.
On the outside it seemed like an ordinary day, but internally I felt validated, mostly because everyone else had to acknowledge that I was, indeed, a grown-up, and they now had to respect my opinions and decisions. However, I knew intrinsically that I did not need others’ approval or permission for anything, because even though I was just a “literal” teenager, I was still smarter than everyone around, knew better than they did regarding everything, and didn’t need anyone’s help or advice. You know – a typical teenager. (Just like my kids!!!)
Oh, 18 was lots of emotions. Happy, sad, scared, relieved. So many directions my life could have gone. College, job, wedding, kids…. worked out really good for me!
Just like any other day still had 5 mos of high school left
18 was a good time. My mom was a single mom who had one eye on me during school but focused mainly on my younger brother. I was young in my class. I turned 18 after I graduated high school(June baby) All my friends were a grade ahead of me and a year( or more) older so I wasn’t really interested in my senior year of school. I was more interested in what my friends were doing. My friends were already “adulting” when it became my turn. It was a wild time and I had a lot of fun with many memories and made many a questionable decision most of the time but, I wouldn’t change a thing. Thank god it was before social media!!!
It was just like any other day for. Get up, go to work, come home and sleep.
I was married after high school. I was 18. I was a first time mom. I was 18. It seems like only a few years ago, but that was 42 years ago! My husband and I are still married and we have three children & four beautiful granddaughters. The hardest time out of all of these years is now. My husband has stage 4 cancer & it’s been a rough couple of months.
Pretty much any other day for me. I think that had to do with losing both my parents at a young making me grow up faster than I should have been.
I turned 18 after I graduated from high school, so I was already moved out and living in an apartment with my sister. I felt like an adult by then since I wasn’t living with my parents and I was starting college in the fall and working full time. Looking back I wish I could have had more time as a kid and not been in a rush to be an adult. Adulting is hard lol!
This had to be the most anticipated birthday I ever wanted to come fast with the naive belief my like would be magic. The day of my 18th birthday I looked forward to going out with my boyfriend of 3 years. The one I just knew was the ONE. I had even decided this was the night I would go all the way. Come date time he shows up with a birthday cake and some BS story he couldn’t go out. Little did I know at that moment he was breaking up with me. I think I realized that day life doesn’t always happen the way we want it. Turning 18 is hard because you have one foot still in childhood and one foot as an adult. The only way I would want to re-live my 18th is to know what I know today.
Very weird-graduated high school on Saturday and started a secretarial job on Monday commuting 45 miles a day to a big city. I went from a school kid to full adulting in two days. It all worked out as I now have 3 kids of my own and two grandkids (the oldest will turn 18 in less than a year!!)
18 was hard for me. Single mom in my senior year of high school, working long hours after school and weekends (thank God for my mom).
Turning 18 was a mixed bag. I broke up with my high school sweet heart and went a little crazy. I’m from a small town and I basically lived by myself since 17. I hated my mom’s boyfriend with a passion… Long story short, I moved out and lived on my own. Nothing to do in a small town but go to church or party. I chose the later. I had wonderful friends and back stabbing ones that broke my heart. I partied 7 days a week. Booze and men. I also was working and started going to college. I barely slept but didn’t need it back then. It was mostly great with heart breaking moments. I obviously loved this book.
I probably thought 18 was rough, graduating school, working and planning a wedding with a long distance fiance in the military. Looking back, it was so easy. I was living at home so I had no laundry, no dishes, no cleaning, no cooking and very few bills. We had dial up internet and no cell phones. I had an 18 year old metabolism and could eat anything I wanted and as much as I wanted. I miss how simple life was then!!
Eighteen was nothing special. At 14 I already had my driver’s license due to needing it to get to school and I was out of high-school at 16. Everything in my life seemed to come early. What I had thought was going to be a monumental year was nothing out of the ordinary. I do sometimes wish that things hadn’t come early for me.
I don’t recall 18 being that hard. I graduated at 17, so I was already working, driving but still living home so probably felt all grown up but really wasn’t even close to that yet.
It was hard, I lived on my own since I was 16 got married at 18 to a loser and tried to raise my younger sister…glad life got easier.
18 wasn’t too bad, but my early 20’s were pure hell!
Wouldn’t want to have to relive those years ever again.
I already had a baby at 18 so I was super busy!
It was a mix. I turned 18 mid senior year because of my late birthday. I hated high school. So the year dragged on forever. Lost some of what I thought were my best friends when I found out they were talking about me behind my back. Because of my December birthday there was no big celebration. But shortly after I turned 18 I started a job I loved and met some awesome people. Graduated in June of my 18th year and haven’t looked back.
Honestly, I don’t remember. I do know I’d like to go back there, though. I’m old and returning to a younger age would be super.
18 was just like any other day.
It was time for exciting adventures as I moved to Germany for a year.
18 was a mix of enjoying freedom from my parents and a place I hated living and it was a year I made some bad decisions with consequences…. In the form of a bad guy.
Thanks so much for the chance!
Eighteen, could drink legally, left school, started work. At the time momentous happenings but on reflection, 53 years later, I was sweating the small stuff – how we experience the now of the time I guess, and make our mistakes.
It was great – the beginning of the world opening up to me a little more. I was given more legal permissions and rights, so that was convenient. Being a minor was grating to me 😁
Eighteen was tough. Still a child in many ways yet was able to get pregnant by man who disappeared. I had the child, kept her, and now I am a great-grandmother but still remember the horror of being unmarried and pregnant.
I finished high school at 17 and deferred college for a year to go on a year program to Israel. I don’t recall my exact birthday (mid-Jan), but we finished exams at Hebrew University in Jerusalem and headed out for 2-3 weeks of touring before heading to a kibbutz for the remainder of the year.
I was thrilled to be away from my mother and always worried about my ‘baby’ brother and counted on my other two (younger) siblings to protect him from the worst of her rages. He survived but my clock radio (remember those?!?) didn’t – apparently my mother took umbrage with the volume my brother was playing it at and pulled it out of the wall and drop-kicked it. Better the clock radio than my brother, right? (Though I know there was plenty of physical violence against my siblings during that time.) We all moved out at the earliest possible moment and survived. She, of course, had no memories of her behavior from those terrible years, so I guess that the joke was on us – we can’t forget her cruelty.
To be honest, 18 is a blur. Is that good or bad?
18 was great. I was involved in lots of things and they kept me busy.
Just another day
Had my first child @18. And a single Mom- yeah it was hard, but I wouldn’t change anything.
I wished I knew what I know now when I was 18. I wouldn’t have been that scared girl and would have lived life to the fullest.
There were good moments & bad moments. I got pregnant & lost the baby. Lost the baby daddy in the process, which broke my heart at the time. I wouldn’t change anything about that year because I wouldn’t be the strong woman I am today without that time of my life to learn & grow from.
Just like any other day, I guess. My life didn’t change.
Big changes at 18. Left home for good. Got real poor. Like starving. Resilience saved the day. With help from my grandmother.
I think eighteen was not a big change for me personally. I went to college about 4 hours from home, but lived the my older sister who was at the same college. We had every class together, lived together, drove home together, etc. so it felt a lot like still being at home. And our parents still helped us financially so it was not a big transition.
18 was scary but fun!
It was hard but fun too, I was ready to leave home for college and spread my wings
I got bit by a dog on my 18th birthday. Damn over protective Chows… and I love dogs! I was able to relate to the book Eighteen with a lot in my life at that time.
18 sucked. First year in college and feeling invisible. But it got better each year after.
I was married at 17. Graduated high school at just turning 16. Couldn’t even drive in the state we lived in. Still married to same guy over 50 years now. 18 was independence, work and adjustment. My in laws did not know my age and when they found out they were not happy (not that they liked me then till now – and they are both currently 91). We also bought a house the year I was 18 and I started college so more adjustment and learning. But I can’t say it wasn’t fun!
18 was ok. My parents weren’t big on birthdays so mum bought my first birthday cake when I turned 18. So it was too bad I guess.
It was fine at the time but I wouldn’t want to do it again.
I turned 18 exactly 42 years ago today. Being a December baby has always been a challenge, but It was a great day, lots of love and fun times
I got married at 18 and moved from a teeny town to Miami… That might seem like a huge lifestyle change that young, but we were lucky and are still together decades later. We had a good time.
18 wasn’t that big of a deal for me. I was still in school and still living at home,
At the time 18 was fantastic! But looking back I see that it was only fantastic because I did not realize or care how stupid I was being. But I have some great stories and am lucky to be alive to tell them lol
18 was a bit difficult for me as my parents were going through a divorce and I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my life. I ended up taking classes at a local college and getting a job at an insurance company where I met my husband.
Wasn’t the best. I was diagnosed with my mental illness, so it’s not the greatest time.
I turned 18 the Oct of the beginning of my senior year of high school. I was stuck at home still (not a good place to be) but wanted to be on my own. Day to day didn’t change
It was one of the best years of my life. I had great classmates and we had a lot of fun, and I graduated without studying much (more time to read, to listen to music and to watch movies)
I turned 18 in 1987, 2 weeks after graduation. Being an “adult” I thought I was 10 feet tall and bullet proof. I found out real fast if I was going to live under my mother’s roof I had to follow her rules and I was even grounded for 2 weeks. Turning 18 didn’t change my life a whole lot.
18 was not hard for me. I was already out in the world – on my own.
18 was pretty much just another day/year for me. 19 was when my life turned upside down and really changed.
Mine was great! I couldn’t wait to get out of my small home town and ended up going to college 2 states away and I’m still here 16 years later!! It was like a breath of fresh air actually having to take care of myself and being out of my parents house! My mom and I get along sooooo much better now! I was a stubborn and very independent teenager!!
It was no big deal for me, just like any other day/year… though I wish something exciting did happen!
It was like any other day
It was a nightmare, some of it my own fault but still a shit show!
18 was easy. I was living on my own, going to college and having a great time.
For me it was like any other day.
It was no big deal to me.
It was a relief I was abused at home ran away several times they brought me back I turned 18 and left to live with my aunt
I felt like I needed to do something big….still trying to do that. 🤩😀
It was awesome. Kind of wish I could go back in time and appreciate that time a little more.
I met my husband when I was 17 and he was 27. We got married a few months after my 18th birthday and welcomed our first child that year. I also got pregnant with our second child that year. Living it at the time made so much sense, but thinking about it now that my kids are grown makes it mind blowing. But none of my kids have to make the choices I had to make because I didn’t have familial support. They are all in college, my youngest a year early, and are really awesome people.
18 was good for me – I had a plan and followed thru.
Nothing changed for me when I turned 18. I was a senior in HS. Missed out on the early Nov Presidental election that year, as I am a later in Nov baby. I remember being bummed out on that.
HOW HARD WAS BEING 18 FOR YOU? It was pretty hard I was already on my own.
WAS IT A RELIEF? It was just a number
WAS IT A NIGHTMARE?n/a
WAS IT JUST LIKE ANY OTHER DAY? Yes since I was on my own since 17
Nightmare. I was living in a group home for unwanted teens- the only reason my rear wasn’t kicked to the curb was the fact that the law required them to keep me as long as I was attending High School.
18 was great for me. It legally released me from some awful parents
18 was hard. But it wasn’t unusual because I moved out at 16. My dad and I had a terrible relationship at the time and I didn’t appreciate how he treated my mom, brother and me. So I moved in with my 19 year old boyfriend. 🤦♀️ Dumb. He was a terrible influence and a terrible person. He took advantage of a naive 16 year old girl. (Not sexually, calm down lol. I was 18 before that happened) God I was stupid. But I learned how to not be naive anymore. That’s the only thing good about that relationship. I did stay in school though. No matter what, I went to school everyday on my own. Graduated highschool. Went to college. Dad and I patched things up. Met the love of my life. And have two wonderful kids. 3 dogs. 2 cats. 1 pot belly pig. And too many chickens to count. My life was never terrible, people have had it much worse than me. From 16 to 19 is where most of my regrets lay. My ex wasn’t event that cute. Maybe if he was a hot biker dude I could look back and say, well at least he was hot. Smh. Lol 😂
Before I turned 18, I had this idea it was going be a big event, like in the movies. Nothing epic happened, it turned out to be any other day.
It was kind of rough for me. I had been working full-time for two years on top of high school, then graduated and started community college at nights, then as soon as I turned 18 was kicked out of my house and surfed a couch until I got a permanent place with my boyfriend and his parents. I felt pretty alone and overwhelmed but it turned out okay in the end. I LOVED this book, it was my first by you and one of the few books I re-read.
18 was great! I was looking forward to a new job and the freedom I was waiting for.
18 was hard for one reason. I was pregnant and making the decision whether or not to keep my baby was the hardest decision. I did keep him and he turns 28 in a week, and his father and I are still together 30 years later.
It was a little difficult. I was a single mom to a 1 year old working two jobs. I wouldn’t change a thing though. It made me stronger and I couldn’t imagine a life without my son who is now 21 years old and has a 3 month old son.
18 was awful for me…we moved prior to my senior yr of high school so I had to do my senior year at a new school,
with new people …my parents were also getting divorced….18 sucked for me
I honestly don’t remember; I think I was probably black-out drunk :-/
I’m pretty sure it was just another day….so long ago I’m not really sure
18 was awesome. The drinking age went from 21 to 18. Had some really fun times when I turned 18.
18 was great. I was working nights in a factory the summer before my freshman year of college. I worked 3-11, went home to sleep, then went to the beach, then back to work. Such care free times. Then came college, then medical school, then residency.
18 was no big deal for me.
18 was a very hard time for me. My parents had divorced 2 yrs before, I had left both their houses and was living with my boyfriend (now husband) family and still raising my baby brother that was a yr old. Working full time, finishing senior year, and raising my brother was hard. I grew up fast.
18 was just another day for me. some things changed but very few.
A time of change I had left my high school and long term boyfriend the year before and was in a new high school. I met an amazing guy and enjoyed a whirlwind romance (my first) and then left for another high school ( I travelled with my fathers work)
I wish I had been able to read the romance books of J A Huss back then it would have been a way more exciting time.
** I found out the other day that my whirlwind boy had died 7 years later – sad.
It was pretty much just another day. I had already graduated high school, and was working full time in retail. Still living at home, and gotten my own car. No boyfriend drama. Really no drama of any kind, though that may be due to my boring ass self. lol I had some good friends/neighbors. The only thing really that would have been annoying, was the fact that I was the oldest of my siblings, and my closest friends, so I got to play Uber driver (before Uber was cool,) whether I wanted to or not. 😀
For me turning 18 was just like any other day.
18 was easy I would go back!
I had a good year at 18. Had been married for a year and a baby. I couldn’t complain at that time. :):) I think Eighteen was my first purchase of yours.
Was so happy to leave school, as I was working full time anyway. Then thought I found the love of my life – I got 2 amazing kids so I wouldn’t have changed it-but home was NOT the love I needed
It was a relief for me. I already had 2 kids. I had my second a month before I turned 18. They were 2 yrs apart. I was getting ready to graduate. I was getting SSA from my dad passing to help with my babies needs but I was able to get a job and move out of my moms once I turned 18. So we could be on our own. So my husband watched them until he turned 18, 4 months after me and we worked different shifts. It was really a relief for both of us to turn 18.
It was on the scary side as I left my mom’s home because of the abusive man she married. It was scary because I wasn’t there to protect her and my brother’s from him but I grew a lot more mature and became a piece of who I am today.
I never really thought 18 was hard. I was a senior with 6 months left of school so not much changed. I was dating a somewhat older guy, but the only hard thing about that was he went to work out of state and I was not allowed to fly to see him. Not long after that we broke up and he got married. At the time, I thought it was the worse thing that could happen. BUT, I found my own freedom and happiness in starting my new “adult” life and was cool. Then, I met a guy who was my age and we became friends. We’ve been together for 32 years. So, relief in coming of age and realizing some things are just meant to be.
Turning 18 was pretty good. I was able to make my own decisions. Not all where good but I learned from my mistakes.
Was a challenge for me.
18 was great until I went to college. Then it was the loneliest and saddest time id my life! I never thought about that in that way before! Oh the revelations with JA Huss 😊
18 not a huge deal in Ontario – legal drinking age is 19 so that was always the goal! Although I grew up 15 minutes from Quebec border where you could go to bars at 18 so we did that!
It was a relief but also sucked still being in high school at the time.
Age 18? WAS IT JUST LIKE ANY OTHER DAY. But I could stay out late.
It was the summer before I started college. It was mostly like any other day
18 was okay. A little stressful starting college and being out of my comfort zone but it wasn’t too bad and definitely could’ve been worse.
like any other day
18 was rough, but I do remember a really fun hookup that was in his 40s….least until the one day I met his 16 year old son. Awkward…
That was so long ago! Since nothing jumps out I’m going to say it was like any other day.
Oh at 18 I was already well into “adulting.” One baby on the hip and one on the way, taking full-time college courses, working two jobs. Tough doesn’t even begin to cover it.
Still in high school. Graduated at 18 and was trying to get ready for nursing school. I literally lived seven minutes from school, but elected to live in the dorm. I hated my house. Four siblings and a mother who was a slave driver. She was an only child and decided that since she had five kids, said kids cleaned the house for her. Literally floor to ceiling. I stray. So high school and nursing school all in my 18th year was exhausting.
I had a 1 1/2 year old daughter.
I didn’t turn 18 until the summer after I graduated high school. I was excited and ready to be an “adult”. I got my first full time job shortly after.
No I didn’t mind no too special or too traumatic happened then
Eighteen was a nightmare mostly because I’ve been bullied and picked on all my life so for me eighteen was a nightmare and I survive it each day just by writing for fun and cuddling with my cat.
Even when I became an adult I was never allowed to make my own decisions so I was very sheltered and under strict parents
I was a week away from graduating high school and ready to head to college. No trauma. Only high hopeful expectations!
Eighteen was the same as any other year. My parents were controlling and when I turned Eighteen that didn’t change. I had no new found freedom.
I couldn’t say. I had a bad accident a month before and I was so doped up I don’t remember it.
The hard age for me was 16. By 18 I was able to leave for college and pretend years 16-18 didn’t happen.
Was looking towards graduating, being an adult, voting, exploring my world, getting ready to leave the nest.
At that time, I had just started dating, like a real first everything, boyfriend, sex and I was so in love he was 5 yrs older than me. Man I thought I knew what love and all that shit really was. Wow, was I wrong, I was still a child, didn’t know anything. Then he cheated on me and well it was the best thing that could have happened to me. It was an experience for sure, always will be greatful I didn’t end up with him as I figured out the hard way he wasn’t a great person.
Eighteen was great because I went off to college and became a lot more independent.
It was more difficult that it should have been. I can relate to Shannon in 18, as the oldest of three siblings having to step in our Mother’s shoes to raise them.
18 for me was a challenging time. I wasn’t aware of how manipulative my boyfriend was. Now that I know the term “gaslighting” I have a name for what he did to me for 7 years. The verbal abuse, even at times when he drank heavy, the physical threats- it all was so toxic & I am so thankful that I lived abroad for a year and found out he was cheating on me the entire time, it gave me the strength to end things and cut all ties. The one good thing I got out of it was his now sister in law who is one of my closest friends. Silver linings!
Gosh 18 was a very long time ago , but if remember correctly I enjoyed being 18 , I was very independent
Eighteen was a lot of responsibility. Expectations were high.
18 was alright. I found out that you can’t trust everyone.
i got my driver’s license at 18 so it was great
It was just another day for me.
18 was great. I headed off to college and was able to start making my way in the world. I’ve been a very independent person so I relished the new adventures that awaited me.
Eighteen was hard for me. It was kind of a let down because I thought I’d go out and do all kinds of stuff once I was an adult, but then I didn’t have any money to do those things, so it was disappointing. Also, friends faded away after high school.
Wow that’s a year I never want to do again. Sometimes I fantasize about going back to 15, because it’s when everything went wrong. Maybe 10 because that would’ve changed the trajectory of my life. That age? No way. I was awkward and going through a depression I don’t wish on anyone. Half the time I slept, and when I didn’t, it was horrible. No gracias.
Turning 18 was just a day that allowed me to handle my responsibilities without adult assistance I was thrown into at an early age. I wasn’t the typical teenager with high school activities and ups and downs with boyfriends. I was helping my mom to raise children that needed love and security so I was an adult before becoming an adult but in a good way. I had the option to walk away but I did all I could to help (working, errands, childcare etc.) and sacrificed just being a teen. It allowed me to see real responsibilities ahead of time which gave me insight to take my take be coming a mom for real or wife without being able to walk away. So turning 18 was just like turning any age since I was 14 but it made me the best me I can be.
Being 18 was a fun time
18 was magical for me! I was in college full time; did not give 1 single fuck about my education. I worked and parties were my life. I would sneak into bars, dance on tables, fucked guys I had no business fucking, older men, younger men I was not picky. It was great! I loved every minute of being 18.
I was already in college when I turned 18. It was nice to officially be an adult.
Being 18 was not a good time for me and I hardly remember the disaster it was.
I became Anorexic when I was 17 and I was still struggling with the illness when I was 18,I was depressed and in a dark place.I began seeing a psychiatrist and a community nurse had to visit me everyday.
Being under their care and trusting them with my health was the worst thing I ever did and the scars of what they thought would snap me out of it,still haunt me to this day.their lies and mistreatment have messed me up more than I was before.
So 18 for me was like being in HELL….I Never experienced friends,laughter,parties,education,boyfriends…I was too consumed with demons.
The depressing thing is I am still struggling with an eating disorder and I have become very mistrusting of doctors etc…they destroyed my life and my faith.
Thankyou so much for the chance.
Merry Christmas. xx xx
I think it was hard on me just coming of age to make my own decision and I had a lot to learn but thought I knew it all !
Haha I bought lottery tickets and played bingo 😂
I was excited to turn 18 which I turned about a month after graduating high school, but also turned into a terrible mess shortly after. I was upset that a young man I was in love with got engaged to someone else. I was in a very emotional state and had a fight with my parents and moved out and in with a girlfriend and her parents. I said some terrible things and hurt my parents terribly. It took me awhile out on my own, but I did apologize to my parents for how I reacted to that situation at that time. I was very nieve and wish I would have found myself a Mateo to fall in love with instead.
18 was hard, but it was also exciting. I got engaged to my high school boyfriend, pregnant with my first child, and dropped out of college. I certainly wouldn’t want to do it all again! In all honesty most 18 year olds make it hard on themselves because they think they know so much more than they do. ;》
18 was really difficult for me. I was dealing with some mental health issues that made everything seem much worse. But there were some good times too.
Can’t remember much about turning 18, but I was a freshman in a college in another city and on my own for the first time so that time was pretty exciting, I would say.
It was like any other day!
Thanks for the chance
Hummmm. I think it was pretty ok. I was the shy person most of HS until my Sr year. I wanted to get involved so I was in the yearbook committee, on the Sr Ball committee and head of a ski club too. So that kind of broke me out of being so shy. I was dating my now husband and he was a year older and going to college. So I kind of think all and all being 18 wasn’t to bad.
My 18th birthday was a little rough.
When I was 18, that would have been senior year in high school. Besides some minor senioritis setting in (I just didn’t want to take the extra AP class that year), I would say that when I was 18, was pretty much like any other year
Turning 18 was pretty much an average day for me. Two months after graduating high school and 1 month before starting college. Grew up in a small town, so not too much happened.
18 was definitely a hard year for me. I was in a relationship that I now know was very toxic. My self esteem was non-existent and I was just very lost.
Life at 18 was so much easier with no worries and living at home going to school.
18 was difficult. A boy broke me. But I grew up quickly afterwards.
Turning 18 was just pretty normal. I was one of the oldest in my class because of the different birthdate deadlines for starting kindergarten. I moved from a state with early deadlines (Colorado – 09/01) to one with a late deadline (Illinois – 12/01), so most of my 18th year was during my senior year in high school in a very boring small town. Believe me, I tried to pull the “I’m an adult now” card a lot, but it just didn’t fly with my parents and still being in high school and all.🤷🏻♀️😆
18 was just another day.
I was just excited to finish high school and go off to college and be free.
Turning 18 was just like any other day for me.
Eighteen was a challenging year for me. When I was 17, I got involved with a 28 yr-old man. By the time I was 18, he was gone, and I was a single mother. That was in 1975, and the school system didn’t allow pregnant girls to attend classes. My guidance counselor actually advised me to drop out. Despite missing the first eight weeks of my senior year to have my baby, I graduated in the top 5% of my class with my baby in the audience. Things were tough, and money was tight, but it could have been worse. I was blessed to have loving parents who supported my son and me emotionally and financially while I finished high school and nursing school. And we all lived (mostly) happily ever after.
It SUCKED, being that senior year was one of the worse for me.
For me, turning eighteen was sort of a relief, because I’d finally caught up with my friends in age at college. I have a late birthday, so I was still seventeen when I started college, and I felt like a baby compared to everyone else. It was also an election year, so people were canvassing the campus for us to register to vote… and I couldn’t because I was too young. I either had to lie or tell everyone I was only seventeen.
It was just another day for. It did change anything for me.
18 was pretty good, considering I married my high school sweetheart a week before I graduated high school. I wouldn’t change a thing and we’re still going strong!
I was young and stupid I was already married and had my first son and a deadbeat father who believed you could make more off welfare then working. God, I don’t know what I saw in the man. But I did get 3 wonderful children, so he was good for sperm donations but not much more!
When I turned 18, it was just a normal thing…nothing exciting or life changing happened
18 wasn’t too bad for me. I was preparing to graduate and go to college.
From what I remember 18 was good. Graduated highschool and started college having a good old time with friends.
It was just another day, nothing exciting.
18 was pretty good. I had a great group of friends that I still keep in touch with. Some of my best memories are from that time. Watching movies while eating ice cream, cookies and twizzlers, seeing our favourite MLB team win the World Series 2 years in a row, camping at the local conservation area during the summer, and figuring out our futures. It was an important time in our lives and I’ll cherish it always!
It was good and bad. I graduated from high school, visited my older sister in MD, and had a good time and then went to college where I got real sick and missed 3 weeks of classes. Had to drop some classes, however, it all worked out in the end. I graduated with a BSN and became a nurse in MD. where I still live today.
18 was really just another day for me. Didn’t feel any older. 22ish felt like I was finally a bit older and more real feelings of life.
18 was pretty uneventful for me. High school was done, and there was no money for college, so I got a job at a video store and pretended to be an adult (eventually I caught on, lol).
Normal Day
18 SUCKKKKEEDDD! I want a drink just thinking about it! I am loving my 40s though!
Turning 18 was uneventful and kind of easy. Felt I had reached a milestone in my life. I felt I went from being a child to adulthood.
18 was easy it was the younger years that were hard
I turned 18 at the end of my first year of college. I was busy with exams and happy I could now legally vote(geek).
18 was wonderful. I got married and had our first baby.
I had been waiting for the day I could leave home, and I did at 17.
My husband was my knight in shining armour. We’re still together, 45 years.
It was a celebration of finally becoming an adult
18 was kinda rough for me because I found out I was pregnant 2 months before graduating and my mom was so mad at me she didnt talk to me for months amd noone would hire me because i was pregnant and I lost alot of my friends so it was a lonely time!
Well….18 hmmm super tragic for me! So VERY memorable (unfortunately) I had just been out of the psych unit for a 6 week stay with a new BiPolar diagnosis, (almost missed Grad ) as I had to miss first semester of grade 12.
Then went to celebrate with just my parents 🙄 but that was nice as they are amazing.
My parents had a party for me some close friends and family was soo fun but I knew I had adult decisions to make also I did when I talked to my parents
It was just another day to me.
I found the first part of 18 hard – felt my friend started anticipating our upcoming separation early leaving me feeling less connected and more isolated. Then I got sick and lived with pain and medication side effects for the only treatment option available for endometriosis at the time. However, starting college, making new friends and a new life was uplifting, meaning despite my physical condition I was very happy.
18 was an absolute NIGHTMARE for me- my mother pressured me so hard to do things I didn’t want instead of letting me think it over and make up my own mind, and she ended up running me off and I made a series of stupid choices that messed up my life for years to come.
It was just another day. Thanks for the chance!
Ugh. It was a relief in some aspects but then I felt the pressure. I look at my babies and think that I DON’T want them to grow up so fast
So hard, I was pregnant and married and thought I knew it all. I KNEW NOTHING!
3months into being 18yrs old, I became a single mother. My baby boy and I moved around a lot and I had MANY different jobs to make ends meat. I didn’t graduate high school, but I DID work my butt off to earn my GED by September of 95′, while my friends had already graduated that same year in May. Nothing was easy, but at the same time, all of that work was worth it because I had my baby boy. I was and still am, I’m love with him. Holding him helped to stop my sadness and make things just a little bit better. However, by the time I was 19, I wasn’t really qualified to work any job that would be financially beneficial to us. After a friend took me to our local step club to hangout, while there I was offered a job as a dancer. (Or as Julie and Johnathan deemed us, I became a “Pole Artisan”.) I danced for 14 yrs and in those years I married my best friend (we met BEFORE I became dancer) and we’ve been married for 25yrs now. My hubby has always treated my son as his own and later adopted him when he was 4. We went on to have 2 more children and although these years haven’t been easy, they’ve been worth all the work.
So, yeah, 18 kinda sucked for me, but at the same time, I wouldn’t have changed anything, because it made me who I am today. Strong.
Merry Christmas
Wow 💜
I moved out at 18, so it was a huge adjustment period. There were some good times, but there were definitely lots of tough times too.
Sometimes I don’t even remember those years. But then I remember the one and only cake with candles I ever had, and the picture I took, and what a long hair I had… 🙂
Love you. 🙂💜
My eighteenth year was one of the most traumatic for me. My father was diagnosed with cancer and passed away 6 months later.
It was hard for me because I had a baby 3 days after my 18th birthday. I grew up fast.
At 18 I was in my own little bubble. I turned 18 my freshman year away at college. It was a good time for me. My twin brother and I were at the same college and spent our birthday together of course but I missed the rest of our family. It was way before cell phones and we couldn’t afford long distance phone calls.
Hi – 18 for me was ok but I feel it was harder on my brother. We are close in age and moved around the time we were 18, he was a senior and I was just graduated. He found it extremely difficult that year adjusting to his last year away from all his friends.
18 was a good year with lots of parties and friends
It was just like any other day for me.
I was glad to be 18 so I could be done with high school. It was made fun of a lot and I was glad to be free of that mess. I looked forward to getting a job and moving out. I wasn’t ready for college at that time. My son recently turned 18 and he’s having a hard time. He’s mentally disabled and it’s a scary time for him. There’s a lot of anxiety in the house. I just keep reassuring him that I’m here to help him and that he’s not alone. Thanks for these wonderful giveaways Julie! Happy Holidays!
Turning 18 was just another day
Just like any other day i could buy lotto tickets and vote other then that nothing really new happened or changed i was in the last semester of my senior year
Being 18 was just like any other day for me. I just started college and I had to have my wisdom teeth removed that year. Besides that, I felt the same.
Just another day. Although I felt like I became an adult suddenly.
Eighteen was not easy. I wasn’t ready! Would do everything over if I could.
18 was a normal year for me. Finishing up high school and working. Definitely not looking forward to starting college😂
Eighteen was normal. I was less than a month away from graduating, and I was attending a local community college. I’ll age myself and say that I was legally able to drink now! lol
18 was kind of crazy. It was definitely hard in some ways… I was so emotional back then lol, but it was pretty fun too.
It was just like any other day.
Eighteen was complicated. Challenging in a lot of ways. Choosing a career, learning how to drive, learning how to make adult decisions, trying to make friends and staying in touch with old friends while getting an education, etc. Lessons that I had to go through in order to find myself.
18 wasn’t awful. I started college about 4 months after, which was terrifying. I was super introverted and felt really alone for the first several weeks. But I bonded with a roommate and made a couple of friends. It ended up okay.
I was kicked out of my house when I was 14 since I was not following the rules. I’ve been on my own since then. So for my 18th it was not normal. I do have to say that it was the first time ever that my birthday was celebrated and I had a birthday cake. So it was memorable!
At 18 I had been working for two years as at that time you left school at 16.
It was hard as I have no idea what I wanted to do with my life.
I was mentally just still a kid at 18, finishing up high school. Fighting with my mom because she wasn’t as smart at me. Good thing she got smarter as I got older. I believed I still had my whole life to figure things out. Believe me it has taken all that time as I continue to figure out life’s in’s and out’s. I really took my time at growing up. I guess I liked being a kid. Still do.
18 honestly wasn’t really that big of a deal. I was in my sophmore year of college already, was about to become engaged to my husband (of 17 years now) and things were basically fine. I skipped out on the drama of high school and found that real world people were much less chaotic. Pretty happy with how that worked out. 17, on the other hand, was way trickier. It was my first year away from home at college (I went early) and my oldest brother was in and out of hospitals with a brain tumor along with the emergency brain operations that seemed to go with it. The poor guy seemed to suddenly need one for most major events including his own birthday, lovely for him huh? He survived though! It was just hard being away from family and being immersed in the college world while so much turmoil was swirling in my thoughts about what was going on at home and not being able to be there. (He was supposed to be at college with me that year too. What a mess that year was.)
Honestly turning 18 wasn’t hard for me, I was in college, working and moved into my first apartment.
18 was the first good year for me in a long time. I moved away from home, got engaged, and started a new phase in my life which turned out to be extremely challenging, but I learned a lot and met the people who are to this day my best friends.
18 was a fun time on my life. I was in college, proving my parents wrong and making my own way in the world. I stumbled but grew in so many ways getting to really know myself and what I am capable of. Thanks Julie, happy holidays 😊
18 was a pivotal point in my life. I graduated high school, packed up everything I owned, move about 480 miles away from the only place I have ever known as home, left behind the only guy I had ever dated, and decided I wanted to do something new. I wanted a new start. I made mistakes. I learned new things. I grew, then I screwed it all up when I thought I had fallen in love with a member of the band 🙁
Queue – having to start over again!
By the time I was 18 I was a mom, so that did add a bit of difficulty. I can’t say it was awful, I never really went anywhere so it didn’t change much of my life.
I was a mess at 18…. I acted out and made a fool of myself, lol
it was just like any other day for me
It was very rough for me, because I was very sick and had been so for years before that. It wasn’t until I was about 19-20 that the doctor’s were able to treat my more dangerous symptoms.
For me, being 18 was a nightmare. I lived with an abusive father, nasty step-mother, and step-siblings that teased my dog and could do no wrong in both parents’ eyes. I was the black sheep, to say the least. I hated my school (tho I was an excellent student) but upcoming college—and living on campus—was my light at the end of the tunnel. So, I survived. Barely, but I did survive.
18 was busy, working and starting college. I wish I enjoyed it more.
It was a relief as , I had been on my own since I was 16 Et Adulting so of the best I could. Loved this book 🎄
It was pretty good. Just started college and met some best friends for life.
18 wasn’t anything special. I graduated high school then started college. I wish I had better things to say about turning 18.
Ugh!!! I loved it. Of course I did not realize that until now. It was the time of my life!!! >)
Pretty easy.
It was hard because my dad didn’t want to let go. He continued to treat me like a child and I was not happy. I ended up moving out way too young to gain some freedom. He didn’t treat my younger brothers that way when they turned 18, that’s for sure. They were having girls over to stay the night. The double standard was completely ridiculous.
Being 18 was super hard for me.. last year of high school and 2 months before I turned 18 my father passed away in a car accident. Still not sure how I got through the year.
It was okay looking back I wish I would have done things differently but I like the person I am today and it built on my past.
18 was fun but a little scary. I graduated high school and was the only one of my friends who went away for school. I did meet one of my best friends my freshman year of college and that friendship is still going 26 years later.
Was good and a long time ago.
Years 18 to 24 was horrible for me. I think any age was/is horrible for me.
I turned 18 on graduation day. After commencement i had a family birthday party and then got on the bus for Grad Night at Disneyland. Got back to town around 7am. Loaded up the car with my best girls and headed to the beach and napped in the sun and sand. Perfect day! 2 months later we all went away to different colleges and life changed. not bad just different.
18 is when I was able to drink legally, but I wasn’t too fond of drinking, so it wasn’t that big of a deal.
It was easy and fun.
It was a little scary for me. I always had my mom we are best friends! Happy Holidays and Thank you for the chance 🙂
Eighteen was great. I could leave home and forge a life of my own.
Oh, eighteen… I gotta say, I’ve NO desire to go back.
I was so insecure, anxious, depressed & financially strapped. And I hid it all behind my big hair and big dreams!
On the flip side… I was still dating my high school boyfriend and enjoyed losing my V card!
We dated 8 years, got married, had 3 kids and have been married for 25 years! #NoRagrets
Still a little insecure, anxious, depressed & strapped… but now I let my freak flag fly and own it!
At 18, I had been married, divorced, and married again. I had been married for 6 months on my 18th birthday. So life was good at that time. Of course, it didn’t last, but 18 was ok. Too much shit happened to write about, but I was not a a nice person . I was a real bitch. And wild. Oh well.
I forgot to add it was definitely an adventure school wise because I was going to college and saw all new people.
I was already married and had a baby girl by the time I turned 18, so it was just another day for me!
Have a magical holiday season!
18 was brutal and exciting for me. I was 18 when my family immigrated from Ukraine to US. It was quite a culture shock and I didn’t speak any English. Fun times
It was ehh I guess
18 was good for me. I was a freshman in college and had lots of fun. I have truly been blessed in my life and recognize this.
I got my first job at 18. I think I was still trying to find my way at that time.
nightmare like any other day
My birthday is the day before Christmas, so that time I think we were doing family Christmas.
18 felt kinda liberating, I liked it
18 was a double edged sword. I had been on the streets for a few years at this point, so I already had the independence. However, I was now of age to like get an apartment on my own and that helped!
Eighteen was a confusing time for me. I was getting ready to head to college for computer programming, I had high hopes and dreams, but it was during a time when women were just starting to break into office situations.
At 18 I had already been away from home in college for a year. I didn’t make the best decisions leaving home so early.
18 was rough for me. I felt like an adult, but I was still financially dependent on my parents. Things got much easier for me when I turned 21
I moved out of my parents’ house at 17, so 18 was not an extra special birthday for me. Now… 21, THAT was an exciting birthday!!
18 was exciting. I was in baking school with a good friend of mine and I was in the first year of a new relationship with the man that turned into my husband.
18 lots of energy, lots of friends, lots of free time, little stress
18 was just another day for me I moved out of the home at 17 and was living in a trailer with my boyfriend I started working full time when I was 16 after my parents signed papers so I could drop out of high school which I totally regreted later in life and still do at age 39.
Just like any day, and I got my driver’s license
I was so happy to turn 18 and graduate from high school so I could get on with life. At 18 I packed up and left home with my boyfriend (now husband) we moved to another state and never looked back.
I grew up in a small rural town and was the only disabled person there (a quadriplegic), so I always felt like there was a spotlight on me. Everybody knew me, knew my every move, so I couldn’t wait to leave. Reaching 18 and graduating created a sense of relief and freedom. I was excited to leave the attention behind and start being just another college freshman in the big city!
I went on a first date on my 18th birthday with a guy from high school. We dated through college and got married. That date was 51 years ago. We’re still together, still love each, and still have hot sex (woo-hoo!) at age 69!
18 was a little rough, but also freeing. I desperately needed to be out of the living situation that I was in at the time, and breaking free and on my own with no local family support, was incredibly hard, but it was so worth it. A lot of who I am today is due to the person that I had problems with that lead me to leave home back then. I dont regret a thing, and I honestly love who I am today so I guess if I was on speaking terms with that person, then I’d probably need to thank her for that.
I think for me it was like any other day really. That weekend I was designated driver for my friends because I was the only one in our group with a license at the time. It was a nice day but not the huge deal it seemed to be for others. Thank you so much for the chance I’m such a sucker for tattoos this one hits home for me ☺️❤️📚🎄
18 was soooo long ago (LOL) but it was this weird transition that has me freshly graduated and out the house. Not speaking to either of my parents and trying to find my way. I still haven’t found it.
Thanks for the chance Julie!
A bit rough at first. I was kicked out at 17 because my mom didn’t want me around to watch what was happening when my step-dad was gone working out of town. So I had to get my own place pretty young, but it worked out.
It was both good and bad, I had my first boyfriend and young love is always exciting and fun. I was also in my first year of collage, I had a hard time with that, didn’t really know anyone and had trouble making and keeping friends.
It was different. I was already a mother when I turned 18, so the responsibility for myself and my daughter was transferred from my mother to me legal wise. She still helped me out a lot, but suddenly all the responsibility was mine.
I don’t remember it being anything but another day.
18 was horrifying…
I am hearing impaired Not much improved at that time so struggling so hard
My 18th was just another day. I was still in High School so it was just another day of drudgery.
At 18 I was pregnant with my first child. It was a huge transition in my life.
A nightmare? I’m not really sure. But it wasn’t a walk in the park. I’ve matured early so when I turned 18, I thought I can handle anything but I was so wrong. I’ve experienced a lot of things, a lot of emotions. I’m 22 now and my 18 might not be ideal but I’m still grateful that I’m still alive, still reading books to escape reality for a while. But still alive. Everything that happened molded me into a strong woman I am now.
18 isn’t easy but its worth it.
I really enjoyed the book 18. For me, turning 18 set me free. I was on my own off and on since 15 dealing with a lot and f the same themes in the book except I got to graduate early at 17. 15-17 was awful. The day I turned eighteen, I moved to Los Angeles and started a new life.
18, was like any other day. I worked and lived with my parents
Just like any other day for me. My Mom did a huge party but I didn’t feel any different.
I had a baby when I was 18, it was hard and rewarding I wouldn’t change a thing
I loved being 18! I got to vote for the President of the United States while still a senior in high school. Good times!
18 was hard for me as I did not enjoy small town living and just wanted get out. Now I love small town living🤣
Being 18 was a little bit of everything. At the time, my mother and I had difficulty living under the same roof. I moved in with my boyfriend who is now my husband on my 18th birthday. From there it was ups and downs. We have tried to live our best life. We take it one day at a time and our motto: “we’ll get through it, we always have, and we always will”.
18 did not go how I thought it would. I survived it, but wouldn’t want to do it again. I shudder thinking about my kids hitting 18 given their personalities.
18 was a tough age. No longer a child but also not really an adult.
18 was my day of freedom..to leave my home & go to college! I was so happy to be able to finally be myself.
18 was my wake-up call since I was kicked out of the house since my step-dad and I couldn’t get along and had to learn to take care of myself. It wasn’t easy but it definitely made me the person I am today which is independent and strong which is what I instill in my kids everyday!
My Eighteenth birthday was mundane, the only tangible memory from that day is an utter feeling of loneliness.
18 was pretty good for me!
It was easier being 18 and having more rights as I had been independent since I was 17.
Being 18 was not too bad for me. I was in high school. My family had just relocated to Southern California. I still would not go back to that age. Lol
At 18 I received a settlement for a scar on my face I got as a baby. I bought a house and got pregnant with a TERRIBLE man I married a year later 🤷♀️
I was in college when I turned 18. My teens and twenties were difficult and I had been responsible for myself for years. The hardest part about being 18 was the medical issues that I had to deal with that year. Turning 18 wasn’t a nightmare, but it was pretty miserable. The best part was being away from home and not having to deal with some of the family issues that had been a part of my life for years.
I’ve got to say, I thought 18 sucked but in retrospect, 40 being on the horizon is soooooo much worse. When you’re 18, you see this idea of the life you want, and the older I get, the more it became clear that I’ll never have or be where I wanted to be.
I was still in high school when I turned 18. I didn’t know if I was a kid or an adult. It was not a lot of fun.
I was in high school when I was 18 but I was working and living my friends bad choice I must say.
Turning 18 was great for me. I was so excited.
I was a pregnant high school senior at 18. It was challenging but it made me who I am today.
I loved it. Wish I was 18 now
It was like any other day..
Well, I lost my parents when I had just turned 16 so I grew up then. I got married to the person I dated throughout high school after graduation and we were still 18. 6 months later, we became the guardian to my 10 year old sister. It wasn’t easy but I think you manage what you are dealt with strong faith and having determination. If I wrote a book about my life and what I’ve gone through, people wouldn’t believe it. Thanks for the chance!
18 was not hard for me, I felt like a grown up so I was moving on with my life. Just another day.
exciting but just like every other day
I think that at the time, I would said that everything was bad, now I know what bad really is… So now I just don’t think about it anymore… 😅
18 was probably the hardest for me. After graduating, I still didn’t know what I wanted to do post high school and my parents were not happy about that. My grandmother who was my favorite person that I spent so much time with passed after a long battle with cancer and I had the worst boyfriend ever! Even though it was a tough year it was also the year I feel I finally became the strong woman I am today. I kicked the boyfriend to the curb, took a year off of school to figure out what I really wanted to do with my life and worked on my self esteem and learned to love myself and do what was right for me and not what I thought everyone else wanted me to do. It was worth it! ❤️
The day I turned 18 was great. I was excited to be graduating! I walked the next day so on my 18th birthday we had a party to celebrate both. I felt free, because I knew I didn’t have any real responsibilities. No one was pushing for me to leave home, or get a job, or be someone or something I wasn’t. It took 6 months before I got a job and started living as an adult.
18 was great! Work, school, lots of friends and parties.
I bought my first legal drink at 18 but other than that it was just a normal day
If I remember correctly I think I enjoyed being 18.
I got engaged on my 18th birthday. After 30 years together, I would say it was a good year and pretty good since x
18 was hard. I am 1 of 12 kids. Of those kids 9 were boys, and most older than me. I had a hard time when I would try to date…..it sucked. around 20 was when I got to have some separation from my family and was able to get into a lot of trouble.
I turned 18 while attending college, it was a good enough experience I guess. I worked, went to school, lived at home with my mom and sister and tried to do my best. Hung out with friends and experimented with alcohol and weed like lots of kids my age. We did experience the loss of a good friend that year which changed all of our lives. He was my cousin’s ex and really still part of our family. He was hanging out by the train tracks, lots of kids did that in our town, but he and another boy decided to play chicken and you can see where this is going. It was a tragedy not only for me, but lots of friends and family in our town. It’s funny i can’t remember lots of things from that long ago, but that day is still so fresh in my mind. Crazy the things you remember when prompted.
18 was a lot of fun for me! It was the late 80s and way different than today. I don’t want to go back but I have amazing memories of being 18. Thanks for the chance!
18 was awesome! We had just moved to Ballina (Northern NSW, Australia) by the beach and after living in a small country town, I was excited to be experiencing a different lifestyle.
I could write a book about the year I turned 18! I had friends who lived in an apartment building that was mostly single people and when I was still 17 one of them needed a new roommate,so I moved in-I had an epic 18th birthday party(18 was the drinking age then)I remember some of it! I got my first full time job as a waitress in one of the popular bars(started the day Elvis died) got a 3rd roommate who turned out to be a hooker,running from her pimp in NYC(he found out she was living with us & came to take her back,no one heard from her after that day),was dating 4 guys(before social media,you could do that) got promoted to bartender,had to break up fights with drunks & rival mc(one night I came to work to the front window broken,bloody bikers and lots of police) had a regular who was known as the biggest criminal in town-he took a liking to me and would scare off guys who gave me shit(he died in a high-speed chase with police)had another regular,a Vet with PTSD,who was always looking over his shoulder for snipers(he told me he liked me & would give me an AK-47 and a 15 minute head start). The owners sold it before I turned 19,but I still have friends I met while working there!
I turned 18 a week before getting on my first airplane to fly across the country to attend college… I was leaving behind my first love who was drafted and heading for Vietnam within a month of my departure. A combination of sadness for the aspects of my life that were coming to an end, and excitement and anticipation of all the unknowns of a future that was about to come. I could legally have real drinks to celebrate…
To me, there was nothing special about being 18.
Turning 18 was hard. I was a mom and lived on my own already. I had to grow up early. I had to be the responsible one. Once I turned 18, I knew I would never get the chance to be a child, free of worry, innocent, vicarious.
18 was a big year as I moved away to university and met my husband who was doing the same degree as me. We’re still together and will be celebrating our 50th birthdays next year. <3
When I was 18, I was pregnant while graduating high school. 😫
I didn’t have the best home life, so turning 18 was kind of a relief because I could leave home and make my own decisions even though they weren’t always the smartest ones.
18 was awesome. I wish I could go back and visit my 18 year old self, but just for one conversation. I started college the week I turned 18, and a couple weeks before that I met the man who would become my husband. Two beautiful daughters and 37 years latter we are still going strong.
18 was hard for me. I failed out of a private college my first semester. The love of my life ended our relationship before he left for his first duty station in Germany and I was just miserable. In good news we eventually got back together many years later. Have been married for 23 years and have 2 beautiful kids.
Being 18 was great Going to college and working Bought my first car My moms cancer hadn’t come back yet so live was pretty sweet at eighteen
I was working full time and going to university at night and by distance – so being 18 was pretty intense. Luckily I had the energy for it back then!
18 wasn’t to terrible, I was in college so that wasn’t the most fun but I have no complaints! I liked having more freedom since my parents were strict 🙂
Oh, yuck .. it was a continuation of the rotten bullshit that made up several of the years before.. but I was blessed with my amazing ride or die bitches and their families… they saved me from the streets and the nut house.
My favorite part of the 18 story is the friendship angle.
I actually moved out 1 month before my 18th bday since I graduated high school early. And I don’t remember anything special, so it was probably boring.
It must have been very uneventful when I was 18 because I don’t remember much about it lol. Starting to spread my wings maybe.
I loved turning 18
I live in Australia and 18 is the legal drinking age
I had a good paying job and I went on my second cruise with my friend and loved it.
Thanks for the chance 💕
The day I turned 18 I had a 2 year old and would be celebrating a 2nd wedding anniversary the next day. It was not easy but it was easier than turning 16 and getting married the next day.
Looking back in 18 now I think, man those were the days! My childhood was rough so being able to walk away from that was the best thing to happen to me. I feel like I was carefree and was able to live life on my terms. I loved that period of time.
Eighteen wasn’t that different for me. I grew up in the city, went to clubs ( yes i was underage, 15), very independent. My Mom was a single mother raising three kids and I was the eldest. She didn’t care what we did as long as we didn’t end up drunk, drugged or pregnant 🤷🏽♀️
I had a really crummy childhood and could not wait to leave home. 18 was exciting and all I could think of was the plan to move to New York City and leave my family behind. I worked for a year to get some money (half of what I earned which was all of $90 for full time work had to be given to the household) and left at 19. Never went back!
It was ok. If I could I would want a do over.
Eighteen wasn’t the greatest leaving home for college. I wasn’t prepared for adulting but I learned and life is good now that I have two children and been married over 30 years.
I got my first tattoo and piercing otherwise no big deal
Eighteen wasn’t my finest year, but it wasn’t my worst either. I survived it, although I wouldn’t want to go back and do it over.
If I could go back and be 18 again I would do it in heartbeat! 18 was great!
All of my teenage years were difficult, and that year I was transitioning to college.
Honestly 18 was like any other day/year for me.
I started college when I was 18. It went like another school day. Just that I won’t be going home every day. I was official a grown up.
Being 18… So long ago. I was a reserved young woman, and to this day, I am still reserved. 18 was a time of exploring and venturing away from home, yet leaving one foot in the door for a period of time.
18 was a really difficult year. It was when my dad passed away so it was really hard not having him at all those big moments like senior prom or graduation. I know he’s still with me though and watching over me with his biggest smile!
No real change for me. I was still at the family home which came with stability and support.
18 was a rough year; there were a lot of ups and down. There was some relief after graduating high school. The nightmares were frustrating after but working through everything gets you through life. A little motivation to smile every day goes a far way.
It was like any other year for me , nothing special
18 was just another day for me.
18 was good, it’s the later years that got harder
For me 18 meant I was GROWN! Lol. Looking back, I didn’t know shit about shit
18 was not hard at all for me. It was one of my best times. I turn 18 a month per to graduation and I was one of 2 classmates that could legally go into a bar 🤣🤣
Turning 18 was a very hard time in my life. I was still in high school and didn’t have the best home life. I finished my senior year living on my own which did not turn out well. But I now older and stronger and that is all that matters.
It was just like any other day. Thank you!
It was just like any other day really.
18 was a transition for sure. I got a full time job, watched all my friends go off to college and move away and I went to Community College at night. There were no parties for me. Until I turned 21 and it all went downhill from there.
So hard. I’d never wish to go back to that time again.
I was working for 2 years already by the time I became 18 so only being able to legally drink changed for me
18 was hard for me because that’s the year I became pregnant with my son. But 40 years later I don’t regret a thing. He grew up to be a fine young man and I couldn’t be more proud of him.
Oh wow! Ok this question is a tough one .. my eighteenth birthday I found myself pregnant by a guy that had already finished high school two years prior while I was still in my senior year , not even really sure if I was in love with the guy but he said he loved me and to top it all off it was my very first sexual experience prom night.. this was my true life birthday experience… smh glad I don’t have to experience turning eighteen again lol .. it was ALOT!!!!
Being 18 was a relief for me. I was, and still am, in love. I turned 18, graduated from high school the same month, and got married 2 months later. 2023 will be 32 years💕
I actually didn’t feel any different at 18…than any other time/birthday. I had been working since I was 15; as I am in Canada, we had what was called grade 13, an extra year to prepare for university, so I was still in ‘high school’, and I felt invincible to the world.
thank you !
It wasn’t bad for me. I was dating my now husband. We have been married over 30 years.
Just like any other day
I don’t recall so I’m guessing it was like any other day. That’s been too many years. I’m sure I was excited.
18 was actually pretty good for me!! I was in nursing school and had some super great friends! Thanks for the chance!!!
18 was no different than 17. I was still in high school and living with my parents. I hated high school and would never choose to go back.
It was just another day.
Was just another day. I had been already taking care of myself so just another day. But it was the year I would meet the love of my life💜
Being 18 was easy for me. I was so ready to go out into the world and experience life without my parents watching over my shoulder! Now 19 that was hard! I realized college wasn’t the walk in the park I thought it would be, I lost touch with all my high school friends that I thought I would be friends forever with and so much more!
It was over 40 years ago for me, but for the most part I think I had the time of my life from my late teens to my mid twenties, partying, dancing and lots of fun stuff before life started to get serious. I am sure I had crap days in there but they did not overtake the goodness of the times.
18 wasn’t great but wasn’t the worst. We’d had some family issues so I had to leave school and give up on going to university the year before but by 18 I was working on an admin qualification with a work placement which led to a permanent job with the company. I had already met my now husband and we are in the UK so it was now legal to drink (not that it had stopped us before but hey-ho! 😂) so there were lots of parties with my friends also turning 18.
It was rough…Still young and parents wanted me to stay under their thumb but needed to stretch my wings. going to college helped. Made a lot of mistakes but they were mine so grateful for those growing pains
It was like any other day but with a birthday which falls between Christmas and New Year, most birthdays are not much to write home about. 🤷🏼♀️
I was sick, dropped out of school and trying to get better, finally figured out & found a doctor who helped, 8 years with Lyme disease.
Hm, it was like no other day. My birthday is in the summer time. So all my friends at that time were all already 18 and then going off to college or beginning to work. Lol so it was like blah.
My 18th birthday was great! I’d already started college so it was my first away from home. But my wonderful roommates threw sang, danced & celebrated with me!
It was hard for me especially having to move and go to a new school. It was a nightmare at times.
it sucked lol
18 was roug
That was the year I realized I had no friends. No one called me the day of, but a ‘friend’ did stop by and ask if I wanted to go for a ride with him. He just wanted me to go buy him cigarettes. I haven’t thought about 18 in a long time.
When I was 18, I was given two very adult choices college or a job lol I choose college however not long after I had to drop out because my dad got sick, and I was needed at home. So being an adult came hard and fast for me.
A little crazy seeing as I was pregnant for most of my 18th year. But I wouldn’t change a thing.
It was just another day for me. The best years of my life.
It was not the best. At school it was chill/good but home life was the worst with my parents relationship that put too much on me as the oldest. I definitely would not like to relive 18-22
By 18, I was in college, so I was past the worst.
18 wasn’t bad. I got to enjoy my senior year and then I started my first semester of college
18 was a bitch for me! I was a junkie and from 12-24 I wasted my life. Just glad I got through it and have been clean for years!
Just another year-had to work and go to school.
18 was awful for me. I had a lot to overcome and looking back, I am super impressed that I made it to 47!
I had imagined 18 being such a wonderful age to turn! Independence! Adulthood! In truth, it was a hard reality…but I figured it out!
18 was just a normal day for me. I was working full-time by then, and going to school. Just started Senior year a few weeks before my 18th birthday.
18 was hard for me because I was still in high school and I wanted to drop out and run away, but I stuck it out, and graduated. I fought with my parents all the time because I was an “adult” lol and I knew it all ha. I can’t believe I made it to 39 lol.
I turned 18, 53 years ago so lets see kinda hard to remember, but I get married when I was 19 so it was great when I was 18.
At 18 I thought everything was great. I had gotten married a little before that and to me life was easy.
At 18 was living the fast and crazy 80’s excess lifestyle in Atlanta. Champagne rooms at the Limelight, big hair, lots of blow n snow and dated a few hot men with pornstaches!
To me it was just like any other day. Sometimes I wish I could start over and make different choices.
hard and easy. i was sent to england with my husband in the air force. he would be killed there
My year of being 18 was incredible. A few months before that birthday I moved in to USC college dorm (had started college the Spring before); it was my first time away from very protective parents. I told them they needed to sign the “can come and go at will” release, since if I stayed out after curfew and came back to locked doors or punishment for being out late – I’d just spend the night with who I was out with. And I did. Pretty wild. USC was / is a conservative school, so the group of us that were more liberated and politically active during that time of anti-Vietnam war protests were a tight group. No prudes for sure! The awesome thing is so many lovers from that time are still very important in my life 50 years later.
It was just another day for me.
Turning 18 was just another day for me. I was in high school when I turned 18, would love to have a do over for turning 18!
Turning 18 was just like every other day, however, within 6 months, I was in my first apartment, working FT and trying to finish high school.
Just another day for me.
Just another day for me
18 was hard because I had just lost my grandmother who was my everything and we had plans for me turning 18 and she died right before it but I remember that I was glad about being able to vote for the 1st time
You couldn’t pay me to be 18 again.
My dad asked mom for a divorce on my 17th birthday (still in highschool), and everything went downhill from there. I was in self-destruction mode at 18. Things got better but not until many years later.
Wasn’t 18 a big, giant suck for everyone? It sucked for me and was even worse for my twin sister. My kid is 18 right now and today was a day she for sure will be tellin’ her kids about.
Being 18 wasn’t a big deal for me
It was pretty rough. I had issued that most teenagers didn’t have & I’ve had a rough upbringing. I got pregnant and got married at 18. So that was a good thing I love my husband and sons. They saved my life.
18 was anticlimactic. You think you’re an adult but who at that age is ready to support themselves and be totally independent? Some have to but I’m sure it sucks.
My world got turned upside down. With losing my college scholarship and not knowing what to do next. I decided to get marry. What a mistake that was.
It was fun but also scary. Started college not knowing what I wanted to do. Never did finish.
It was both good and bad. I couldn’t wait to move away from my mother and my perfect, little sister, but there was definitely sticker shock involved.
18 was pretty bad – glad that’s over!
Turning 18 wasn’t too bad . I was dating the guy I ended up marrying and have been with him since.
18 was ok…. I was actually just starting my 1st year of college and was on my own at school
It was just like any day. No big deal 🤷🏽♀️
I had to grow up really fast before i ever hit 18, and so it never felt like the milestone everyone makes it out to be.
18 was a bit anticlimactic…
18 was just another year, high school to college which was the expectation. I think 25 was more of a pivotal age for me. The progression was high school, college, marriage, divorce and that brings me to 25. I was a student, daughter, wife then free to be me. This is when I looked at my choices, future and where I wanted to go.
It was just like any other day.
like any other day, I was already living with roommates and working hard
I turned 18 a couple of months after graduating high school, I didn’t want to go to college but went anyway – made it one semester before I dropped out – scheduled my wisdom teeth extraction for the day of finals. Came home briefly before moving in with a new boyfriend – NOT a good idea – but I stayed with him for over 3 years. 22 was a good year – lived with my sister, worked full-time and went to community college at night – actually 22-25 were overall pretty great years. Got married at 26, had my first daughter at 32 and my second at 39.
When I was 18, my best friend and I drive across the country to California. My mother was so upset. We lived there for a year before coming home with our tails between our legs. It was the best dose of reality for me.
Turning 18 was pretty anticlimactic. It was basically like every other day. I thought that I’d feel really different or have some great wisdom all of a sudden, but that didn’t happen. God, I was so naive back then.
18 was a little rough, and couldn’t wait to get away.
18 was a confusing time. I started early, and 18 was just the final step to being on my own.
Let’s see. 56 years ago I turned 18. I got into the college of my choice and loved being on campus.
Thanks for the contest.
I loved being 18. Better at 21, lol.
It was a normal day for me. Nothing special happened.
18 and 19 were hard. I was wanting to do all the things I had been too afraid to do when I was younger and still in school. By 21 I was a new mommy and had calmed back down.
First of all, I love love this book. It was so good.
Being 18 was hard for me as I was kicked out of my home where I was living with my parents. I had to find a place to stay and had to be a grown up real quick on my own. It was a struggle but I did it.
18 was rough. My parents never kicked me out or anything like that, but we were constantly at each other’s throats. It was a toxic situation.
I would say at 18 life was hard for me. You never feel good enough about yourself and always compare yourself to others.
Wow, well eighteen was actually a rough time for me and my family. Two weeks before my eighteenth birthday we had some family in town staying with us still, from the holidays. We had a house fire and unfortunately not all of us made it out. We lost my 10 year old niece, if it wasn’t for my stepdad I wouldn’t have made it out either. We had to be taken to the hospital and we couldn’t all go to the same hospital, because of the trauma’s.
My mom ended up being flown to a burn center at Loyola to treat her burns and ended up also having a heart attack and had to also have heart surgery, needless to say I didn’t have a home to go to and I was the only person that was discharged at 17 (2 weeks before my 18th birthday)
I had to stay with friends in town to be able to go to school and walk to work after school.
My 18th birthday came and went, because I didn’t want to say anything about it, while staying at my friends house and make her friends feel like they needed to do something for me, when they were already giving me a roof over my head and they also had taken me to my nieces funeral service.
It was just a very long month and I couldn’t wait to be with my family again ♥️
At 18 I was preparing to graduation from secondary schooling, to Mr it was just like any other day.
Eighteen was horrible for me. My brother passed away the summer before i turned 18 and it was just a really hard time for me.
18 was rough.. still in school, but legal adult, trying to find myself, moving out.. it was a collision course on adulthood
Turning 18 was awesome, my best friend/cousin threw me an awesome party. At the end of the night I lost my virginity to my best friend, he stayed with me the whole night. All through our 20’s we kept hooking up in between relationships. in our 30’s we both found “the one” and now we keep in touch through social media.
Just like any other day.
Turning 18 was not a relief but certainly not a nightmare. 14 was my nightmare. 18 was more exciting for me. It was actually a pretty good year.
18 was exciting, being on my own not under my strict moms thumb, scary, moving in with my boyfriend, (now hubby of 30 years) yet wonderful for all of the above. Would I do things differently knowing what I know now? Probably, but I don’t regret my choices.
I was engaged at 18, still a little girl that didn’t know a dang thing b/c i lived a sheltered life. I don’t think I came into my own until I started working at my current job, it gave me so much confidence in myself.
It was a breeze! I already knew what I wanted in life and was working to get it. I wasn’t interested in boys yet so, no drama. I was focused on studying, period. I didn’t realized how lucky I was until recently when I see my son struggles in fitting in, school, relationships, etc. I knew from an early age that I would never fit it and I made peace with that since I was a kid. It was different but I consider myself lucky.
I turned 18 about a month after I graduated high school and at that time my life was perfect and all planned out. I didn’t have a big party or anything, just got my first tattoo and then me and my best friend took off on a road trip across Texas to have fun. After starting college things got real interesting, real fast. I had been raised by VERY controlling parents and was on my own for the first time ever and lets just say, I did NOT handle my new freedom well. Choices I made made my life take a HUCH turn and probably made things harder for me (no pregnancy, just really really bad life choices) but looking back I don’t have any “oh I wish I had..”, or “I wonder what it would be like to …” moments.
I had already been on my own for a year at that point, so it was a difficult year but not unexpected.
18 was pretty great for me. There are days where I would love to return to the easier days of 18 – very few responsibilities, no real bills, school was my “job,” and my paid job was part-time secretary work. Life was pretty grand back then…
18 was so scary to me because I felt like now I have to grow up and be independent and I was so not ready! And I had no clue as to what to do with my life! I really tried to hold onto my childhood but felt as if I was just being thrown to the wolves!
At eighteen I graduated high school, got a real job in a factory, and then got married two weeks before turning 19. It was exhilarating.
18 was fine for me as I already knew what direction I wanted my life to go. I may have also gone a little wild no longer living with my parents
18 was rough.
18 was half and half. I was a freshman in college. Far away from home. Fell in love and was betrayed.
Turning 18 didn’t feel any different but I did try to celebrate it differently by skipping school to go to the beach. Of course there was one teacher that had to have a test that day that if we weren’t there for we’d have to take the end of the year exam instead. So I skipped all my classes but hers, which was more driving than hanging out at the beach.
18 was exciting. Three days after my 18th birthday I got married and moved with my military husband to Panama. While we were there I gave birth to 2 daughters. For someone who had never been more than a couple of hundred miled from home it was quite an adventure.
It was a lot of fun but also so stressful!
18 was freshman year of college in the early 2000s. so being away from parents and the whole world changing was hard for sure. But thankfully nothing insane happened
I don’t remember 18 being a problem. I was excited to graduate and starte college.
Being away from home was tough but I found ways to love it because of my amazing friends 🥰
I was in my senior year of high school and although I felt 18 was kind of a big deal, it was pretty much just like any other birthday year. Not a relief to turn 18, definitely not a nightmare, but not extra joyous – Life went on as usual. Now, I wish I could go back to those somewhat carefree days. That old saying, “if I knew then what I know now” – well, you know what i mean.