by Author Name Withheld 135

Created on: March 04, 2007   Last Updated: May 16, 2007

I'm twenty one, so much more grown up than I was ten, five or even three years ago. At sixteen I thought I was there, adulthood. I thought I was smart, knowledgeable, mature and pretty much as worldly wise as I could be. I look back on that now and laugh, probably as I will do about this article when I'm thirty.

In truth, I'm not sure I will ever be grown up. There is always so much more to learn about yourself and the world around you that I am not sure it is possible for any of us to consider ourselves 'grown up'. But let me tell you a little about the defining moments in my becoming slightly more grown up than I was a few years back.

My first day at secondary school, aged 11. Well, didn't I look the part? Blue blazer, ridiculously long regulation skirt, horrendous striped school blouse, royal blue jumper and flat shoes. My Mum thought I looked fabulous, so much so that she insisted on taking photographs before I left. I thought I looked terrible and tried to hide my face on my way to the bus stop. You see, I was off to Private School... my first day out of the state education system. And I stood out like a sore thumb. Walking through my area past all the kids I had been to primary school with was scary to say the least. I didn't think it would make a difference. As far as I was concerned I was no different a person than I had been a few months before and I certainly didn't think anybody would treat me differently. But they did. I was looked at funny, called named and had things thrown at me. Because now, I was doing something different. That was the day I realised that people judge others by appearances, as wrong as that may be. Doing something that made you stand out is looked down on by the narrow minded.

I suppose the second most defining moment for me slipping slowly into adulthood was falling in love. I'd been out with him for a few years from the start of secondary school. You know the childhood sweetheart scenario... harmlessly holding hands in lunchtime and sneaking a quick kiss n the cheek when nobody was looking. But when I got to sixteen it became a real relationship, both physically and emotionally. I was smitten all of a sudden. I wanted to be around him all the time and when I was around him I'd get butterflies. When I wasn't with him I'd be thinking of him and I spent hours on the phone on the evenings I couldn't see him. It was exciting and special and something I will never forget. My first love. My lesson? That there is nothing better than

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>