Coming of Age

The coming of age... we hear this a lot when trying to describe a big change in a young adults life. I always wondered as a kid.. what it really meant?

When you are a kid, you think everything and everyone is great and nothing could go wrong... well at least that's what I used to think. Once we come to certain age (it might be different for everyone) we realize that life gets real and sometimes it is not all rainbows and butterflies. For me I think this happened when I was 15 and my great aunt died. It was the most eye opening saddness that hit me in a way that changed me like no other.

After that I realized that life happens in a split second. One day you are getting in the car to go to school and the next you are driving south to go a funeral. This was when I had to grow up fast. Help out the family because everyone else was too young to understand.

I think what changed me the most was, as a kid, you always think that, 'this' won't be the last time you see 'someone' but sometimes it is the last time you say goodbye.

After that life got better but more milestones started to happen in my life that I did not think would happen.

People I thought I would be friends with forever, left and we never spoke again. Places I thought I would never leave, I left. People I thought I would never meet, I met. These all seem like, coming of age things but I did not know until now.

I think coming of age is when change strucks your life and you level up in maturity. Losing friends, moving away, getting a job, etc. These are all things that change your life, whether you like it or not.

I think coming of age is learning how to grow on your own but other learning how to grow with others. The people that grow with you will stay forever and those that don't grow will slowly move out of your life.

These things are all scary but I truly think that they are happen for a reason. I think that one thing that always gets me is the friends that are not meant to be in our lives forever. This is something that has always troubled me but is needed to help us grow. Friendships have always been so sacred to me and I hope I can pass that on to my kids one day. Relationships come and go but friendship (true friendships) last a lifetime.

So when someone says coming of age, I think of how someone is slowly developing into someone they are supposed to be, even when it is painful.

For example... moving out of a parents house. Some can relate that it is sad because you are close with your parents and sibings but others think it is a relief to move away. Growing up is painful.

Do not let anyone fool you when they say, "your 20s are the best years of your life" because they can also be the worst.

I think this was what my mom was trying to prepare me for when I would tell her fun stories of me and my friends in high school. It was so fun but there were also a lot of bad times. My mom would always tell me how every good time can eventually have a bad time.

I don't think that I ever fully understood why that is...