(no subject)

[sorcyress]

So, I'm cleaning up my desktop, which, as anyone who has ever seen it can verify, is always a bit of a task. But part of cleaning is posting this, so I can put it away.

So. Old post, from driving up to Boston a couple of weeks ago.

***

I don't think there's any just "bam!" wake up and realize you're fully a grown up. But there are little moments as you go through life, and realize that you're an adult, and people think thus as well.

We have a family tradition --when you cross state lines, you hold your breath. Mom is the one who brought us this tradition, and when she sees the big 'ol "Welcome to ______" sign, she says "Hold your breath!" and points to it.

(She always points to the sign. Dad doesn't ever bother to, so she points from the passenger seat as well. And her pointing follows the sign, until it's been passed, and she can take a breath.)

So, I'm driving. From Maryland into Delaware, we miss the sign (I had only just started driving for the day, and was being a little shaky.) But Delaware into New Jersey...I see the sign, and say 'Hold your breath!' and point.

And mom is pointing as well. And when she realizes I am, she stops. Lets me have that tiny moment of glory.

Holy shit. I'm a grown-up now.

~Sor
MOOP!

Comments

[macaroniandtuna.livejournal.com]

Grin. Good story.

[kdsorceress.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

~Sor

[werewulf.livejournal.com]

*grin*

Use your powers wisely Grasshopper

[kdsorceress.livejournal.com]

Can evil be wise?

:D

~Sor

Sor

[caller-dayle.livejournal.com]

I love that story, and I love the meaning it has, both good and sad. "Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end."

One sadness I have about our culture is the absence of a "rite of passage." I'm 46 now and I never had one. When I look back on my life, my maturity was very gradual, without any marker of crossing a line. I never crawled through a hollow log, came out the other end and had my mother not recognize me.¹ I never had to go out in the woods alone for 30 days, and when I returned, the village allowed me to smoke the village pipe.^ibid? I sometimes wonder if I'm grown up even now. I look around and see all this bullshit responsibility I have and I think that I must be grown up. But the responsibility is just something that comes with age, not with maturity. It's just an indication of being grown up, not a true measure of whether I'm grown up.

T, took each of our girls (#1 and #2) out for a special memory when they became women. She gave them a keepsake to mark them "crossing the line". It didn't mean that they had to grow up and be "responsible," just that this was an altar, built to commemorate a landmark moment in their lives.

Congratulations on your rite of passage. You're very special as a girl and a woman. And kudos to your mom for allowing you that moment, as you "crossed the line".

¹

Re: Sor

[kdsorceress.livejournal.com]

That's one of those things that made me sad I was never very into any organized religion. My Catholic friends became adults around thirteen when they were confirmed. My Jewish friends became adults around thirteen when they had their Bat/Bar Mitzvahs. I never had anything like that.

Well, know, that's not quite true. The summer before I turned eighteen, I bridged in girl scouts, from girl to adult. That was one of the clearest "You are a grown up now" moments I've ever had.

I like the idea of a keepsake --our family rule was that you could get your ears pierced.

And yes, my mom is completely awesome. :D

~Sor

Adulthood

[dhs.livejournal.com]

Should we travel together over a state line, you are welcome to call "Hold your breath!" whether you are driver or passenger.

Welcome to Adulthood, population N+1.

Re: Adulthood

[kdsorceress.livejournal.com]

Adulthood is a scary frigging place, let me tell you.

I like maths though. That makes it slightly less scary.

~Sor

[timotab.livejournal.com]

I'm looking at it, and I'm still not sure if "cleaning up my desktop" is your real physical desktop or tidying icons on your computer desktop. I'm leaning towards the former, though.

[fearthemullet.livejournal.com]

We definitely grow up to become our parents.

Ugh.