“I’ve been looking out a window for 18 years, dreaming about what it might feel like when those lights rise in the sky” – Rapunzel in Tangled (2010)

    After years of wanting to be Rapunzel, I can now say the words she spoke in Tangled felt better than I could have even imagined.

    In case you weren’t aware, I’m Rapunzel. Maybe not literally (well, yes, literally) but as far as any of my friends are concerned, the blonde haired, green eyed, naive dreamer and I are one and the same.

    I’ve been obsessed with the 50th animated Disney movie, Tangled, after it was released in 2010. I have Rapunzel everything, including a bedding set that I plan on taking with me to college, as well as a handmade replica of Rapunzel’s purple dress that she wears throughout the film.

    Naturally, as I turned 18 recently, it only made sense to invite the rest of my princess friends (the senior Majestics all have their own Disney heroine counterpart) to dress up alongside me and release floating lanterns into the sky. If that’s how Rapunzel celebrated her 18th birthday, you could bet that’s how I was going to celebrate mine.

    I had asked my parents about a month prior to my celebration to order floating lights, and they definitely delivered on that request. I had about 20 lanterns, that were about as big as my torso when unfolded, ready to be lit and sent into the sky.

    At around 6:00 p.m., princesses started filing in, including Meg from Hercules (Rachel Segal), Cinderella (Abby Hughey), Ariel (Katie Egger), Giselle from Enchanted (Stephanie Thomson), Tinkerbell (Jordan Kirkpatrick), Belle (Allie Dillard), and Mulan (Lilli Habib).

    Then we each took a paper lantern and sharpies, and began decorating them with doodles and quotes.

    “Here’s to being an Adult, Here’s to the end of our Youth.”

    “If this gets to Neverland, Send my love to Peter Pan.”

    “Here’s to never growing up”

    “#iwasthere”

    “#govols”
“If you listen close enough, you can hear the ocean sing”

    Then, we lit them. That was awesome.

The fire was way bigger than we expected, and I really like fire. After the balloons heated, they floated easily into the sky. They immediately flew over my neighbors homes and it didn’t take long for them to be out of sight.

    It was so pretty.

    To be completely honest, a few of us cried.

    It was a great way to celebrate the last 18 years of my life, and look forward to the beginning of the rest.