By Rosie E.
Upon the arrival of my 18th birthday, I was miserable. I was so confused. What is my life all about, I thought, and what was I supposed to do with it now? Wasn’t I supposed to be grabbing the world by its horns and saying, “I am woman, hear me roar”? I was a little disappointed. Wasn’t this supposed to be my big day? Why did it feel so…ordinary?
I examined the perks of being a legal adult. Sure, there’s coffee involved, but after about seventeen cups in one sitting I started sweating profusely and was sure I’d have a heart attack.
And, yes, of course, there is the exciting idea that when I watch TV infomercials at 3 a.m. and I fall in love with the “Buns of Steel” special, I will be old enough to “order now.”
But what about all the other stuff? I was supposed to be responsible now. What about the fact that now I could legally marry without my parent’s consent? Nobody could stop me. I could bartend! How about that, Mom and Dad! And then I realized, Mom and Dad won’t be there to bail me out of trouble anymore.
My higher power sent me answers that day, but they were just a little bizarre. I learned that a close friend had just had a miscarriage and had gone through a painful surgery. I realized that the difference between girlhood and womanhood is the pain women feel for each other.
Though this was a painful lesson, I really learned something spiritually and emotionally true about myself as an adult.
Later that day, my path crossed with a young man who I have come to understand as an anonymous spiritual guide. He told me of his adventures, how instead of finishing high school and going off to college he had left home and been all across the country, getting to know hundreds of people who had the power to change his life, and doing his best to change theirs. He seemed so contented.
In our conversation, he quoted Mother Theresa.
“We the willing, led by the unknowing, are doing the impossible for the ungrateful. We have done so much with so little for so long, that we are now able to do anything with nothing.”
Wow, I thought. Mother Theresa was onto something, wasn’t she?
I don’t need to be, do, say, act or think anything at all in order to do something meaningful with myself. Something inside of me, whether it be my spirit, my soul, my heart, something is guiding me on the path I am meant to follow. I don’t need to do anything extraordinary to do something great, because I am already capable of anything as long as I have the willingness to let the road roll out behind me.
And then, later on, I had the coolest opportunity to hang out with my Dad, not as a little kid, but as a big one. And as we laughed at the ridiculously funny voices we were making, I realized that nothing had to change just because I was 18.
It seemed that adulthood was really showing her face to me.
Now that I am on the other side of the big “18,” I see that it really is no big deal.
