A Late Reaction
Nineteen is the nothing age: nothing happens. One might possibly have a birthday party, but one simply turns a year older. At eighteen, the glories of legal adulthood capture the attention. One can legally purchase new items, can vote for the leaders of their city, state, and nation, and can fight for the freedom of one’s country and those of others. At twenty, one leaves the stigma of the “teens” although no new perks warrant the age. And of course, at twenty-one, the privilege to legally consume alcoholic beverages opens new doors, quite literally, to previously exclusive establishments. Thus, nineteen has nothing. In fact, many people that I have chatted with feel very similarly and have even expressed that they, just as I, still felt eighteen despite the year of development.
My mother coined a term in her youth which she called “being there.” This is a moment when you realize that you have reached a point in life which you have been anticipating for a length of time. These moments hit me not at the moment I achieve the aspiration, but usually a while afterwards. The most recent experience of “being there” hit me on a recent Saturday night.
Bringing these two seemingly random paragraphs together, on this particular Saturday night, it hit me that I am nineteen, but more than that, I am an adult. I was dressed up, driving out to LA to eat sushi with a friend (which turned out to be such a fun night I will not forget). I did not only feel like an adult, I consciously conceived that I am an adult. I realized how far I have gotten and had reached a point which I had been striving to reach for years. In an instant, months after my nineteenth birthday, I had arrived. But more than this one realization hit me, I also had so much else in my life to reach towards. A life filled with next steps, new challenges, and further aspirations. As a psychology teacher of mine consistently quoted, “Life is a journey, a process, not a destination.”
For a related topic see:Do You Have a Moment?
My mother coined a term in her youth which she called “being there.” This is a moment when you realize that you have reached a point in life which you have been anticipating for a length of time. These moments hit me not at the moment I achieve the aspiration, but usually a while afterwards. The most recent experience of “being there” hit me on a recent Saturday night.
Bringing these two seemingly random paragraphs together, on this particular Saturday night, it hit me that I am nineteen, but more than that, I am an adult. I was dressed up, driving out to LA to eat sushi with a friend (which turned out to be such a fun night I will not forget). I did not only feel like an adult, I consciously conceived that I am an adult. I realized how far I have gotten and had reached a point which I had been striving to reach for years. In an instant, months after my nineteenth birthday, I had arrived. But more than this one realization hit me, I also had so much else in my life to reach towards. A life filled with next steps, new challenges, and further aspirations. As a psychology teacher of mine consistently quoted, “Life is a journey, a process, not a destination.”
For a related topic see:Do You Have a Moment?
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posted by bellevoce | 5:13 PM
3 Comments:
I'm almost 19. And I hate it. Its a stepping stone yes, but it also marks the last year in your teen state. The last year that says "Hey, i did that when I was a teenager." And I look back on my life. And I haven't done anything. Sigh.
I moved away from home--to my own apartment in a city far from home--one week before my 19th birthday. It didn't make a difference that I was already in college, or that I supported myself waitressing, or that I would never live under my parents roof again. At 19 I owned my life and was determined to make it count.
The moments of feeling "there" were few, but looking back I know I was "there" even if it didn't feel that way.
Elisabeth, Sushi was fun, we should do that again.
I like to say "Life is a journey...enjoy the ride."
Btw, I feel like you are one of the most elegant women I know. :)
-Mike
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