Tales of birthdays past

TWENTY-THREE. YEARS. OLD.

Unreal. I am still not too crazy about this age because it means I am only two years away from turning twenty-five which is basically thirty. (I can hear my dad laughing somewhere in the distance…) Anyways, that week I did a lot of reminiscing about my past birthdays and I have gotten to celebrate in some pretty amazing places. Let’s take a look back…

Age: 22 Year: 2012 Place: Loch Sheldrake, NY.

I was working at the famous theater camp Stagedoor Manor all summer with some of the coolest kids I’ve ever met. The staff celebrated with me all week long. On my actual birthday I had fittings for Spamalot all day, got a special cake at lunch, & my cast sang to me. They sang the Beatles song “All you need is love” and replace the word “love” with “Teale”. Adorable.

Age: 21 Year: 2011 Place: Spain

This was an epic birthday. It was the final week of Samford’s study abroad program. Our entire group traveled in a charter bus around southern Spain hitting the best tourist destinations for those last seven days. We celebrated my birthday every single night. One night our hotel in Sevilla had a rooftop pool and we all hung out up there watching the sunset. I remember one of the hilarious fraternity boys in our group asking wearily if my birthday was over yet. Too funny. It might actually be my favorite birthday to date not only because of the location but because I got to celebrate with some amazing people who have become life long friends.

Age: 20 Year: 2010 Place: Maui, Hawaii

We were on yet another amazing Dvornik Family Vacation. That day we drove the famous (and highly dangerous) Road to Hana and hiked through a gorgeous rainforest. The entire day was incredibly beautiful. I don’t remember what we ate for lunch but it was from a roadside stand and it was awesome. That night we settled in to a giant house right on the water with an incredibly view. (Oprah had a house nearby!) I was a happy camper because I was with my family and had cell phone service so I could obsessively check my Facebook all day.

Age: 19 Year: 2009 Place: Lampe, Missouri

It was the beginning of session to at K-2. (Kamp Kanakuk’s sports camp for high school kids.) I was working in the kitchen as a “kitchie-komo”. They made me stand on a chair at lunch while 300 campers sang to me. Not the coolest birthday because I was washing dishes all day but I was so happy to be at Kanakuk surrounded by incredibly cool people.

Age: 18 Year: 2008 Place: Clearwater, Florida

I had just graduated from high school and it was Vacation Bible School week at our church. Mama Stoney surprised me with a giant cake at lunch and I wore a tiara and fairy wings the entire day. That night the Bettelli family threw a birthday dinner for me. I loved it because I love being surrounded by family and knew it was my last “Forced Family Fun night” as a kid.

In conclusion, the past five summers have been pretty fabulous! The places I have gotten to see have been amazing but the people I’ve gotten to celebrate with have always been the icing on the cake!