Twenty-two reasons

As a teenager my birthdays were always big productions. At fifteen I rented a limo and made my friends wear suits and dresses (pictured above) even though we dined at a restaurant in the parking lot of the mall.

Sweet-sixteen was a trip to the bustling metropolis of Grand Forks for a Dashboard Confessional and Get Up Kids show. For my seventeenth birthday I held a rural bush party, which would have been great were it not for all the mosquitoes.

At my second seventeenth birthday in Winnipeg (at this point I was holding two) I had all my friend attend a show at the Graffiti Gallery. The lineup: Buried In Denmark, Dolphin Striker, The Recovery and Abbott Prison Blues. Totally classic.

Eighteen and legal in Manitoba was the biggest and the best. We rented out a room at the Osborne Freehouse, then took over G-Martini, and ended the evening dancing at Mod Night at the Pyramid Cabaret.

At nineteen I let it die. Today I turn twenty-two. The plan? I've scheduled a job interview.

Forever fifteen

We pretended we could drink

So he sang: Hands down, the best night I can ever remember

Seventeen and green eyes. Krysta and Zach.

TJ gave me a shout out on stage.

Freehouse birthday cake

Eighteen and dancing with Lisa on stage

On the Pyramid patio

Eighteen reasons adulthood is less fun