Coming of Age

It was around 8 at night as I was helping my grandma pack up for her yearly Vegas trip (Trust me, she deserves it). Carrying my grandma’s bags down the stairs into my mom’s minivan, I hopped into the car and took the ride to the airport, where I gave my awesome grandma a good-bye hug and told her good bye. On the ride back home, I couldn’t help but think how exciting this coming week would be. With my Grandma not being able to pick me up from school, I had to devise a plan around a very busy schedule with my mom regarding my transportation. And since it was Exam Week, school ended roughly at 1 pm, which coincidentally, was my mother’s lunch break. My mom pointed out that she doesn’t often eat lunch and she would use her lunch break to come pick me up, and drive me home, which I would stay for the whole week by myself until 6. I was never by myself at my house because my grandma was retired and shops so I tag along to help her with the groceries. I live in a family of 6, so there’s always someone around. This was the opportunity to prove myself.




So let’s do some calculus. By my calculations, I have about 5 hours by myself, which amounts to 25 hours of ultimate freedom the whole week. That’s a lot of time.



But if it’s too good to be true, it probably is.



My mom starts work at 7. In order to get good parking (which at her work, is considered 2 blocks away), I had to wake up at 5:30 in the morning. Everyday. On that Monday morning, as my mother woke me up from my sleep, I forced my eyes open and rose from my bed like a zombie. With effort, I swung my feet off the bed and returned to the morning routine of preparing for school everyday. I brushed my teeth, Changed my clothes, practiced my hygiene, washed my face, grabbed my bag, and finally I exited my house at a snails pace. It is now 6:15 and I have arrived at school. There’s barely 30 kids here and no one to talk to. So to pass the time, I read a book called “Why do men have nipples?” (Very interesting book. If you haven’t read it, you should) and before I knew it, it was 7:30. And the school buses came. My friends came out of that bus and we talked until the start of class.



After exams, I went outside the school towards the parking lot to see my mom parked in one of the stalls. I have never been happier to see her than I was now. I took the ride home, unlocked the house, and was left home alone. There seems to be so much more pressure as to what to do. I thought to myself “This is the week where you need to figure out the right thing to do on your own. You can either be a good honest person, or cheat yourself”



Let’s explore the possibilities first. I could be a good little boy by doing my homework, avoiding my video games, drinking water instead of beer, and other stuff that good little boys do. I wouldn’t know. I was never one of them. Or be a bad boy and play video games, watch daytime TV, and surf the web for games. Maybe stick to tradition and walk around naked like most kids do alone. But I’m not one of those people yet. Today was my turning point in my life. I had an opportunity. This was my chance to prove I was responsible and trustworthy. This was my chance to show I was mature. This was an opportunity to show my coming of age. And I did the right choice. I did my homework like a good boy, did everything I needed to do, and THEN I turned bad guy. No nudity. Sorry.



It was Day 3 of coming home alone and I was faced with a serious dilemma. Believe it or not, I felt lonely. And I should be used to being lonely considering how much of a loner I am by myself. But this was big time lonely. What’s worse, my internet was down and I wasn’t allowed to play games on weekdays. That was the longest 5 hours ever. I tried to take a nap but I just wasn’t tired. Tried to read my book but my heart wasn’t in it. I ended up sitting by my window just thinking about things. If only my life was more exciting. And I sat there. And I fell asleep.



Lets fast forward to Day 5. it was almost all over. But the best thing was that I have proved myself. I was responsible to look after the house by myself. I will admit that this is nothing compared to say, going to Maui by yourself, or being lost in the woods but this made a big impact on me in ways I never experienced. I learned to see things differently by being cooped up by myself for 5 hours at a time. I’ve learned to foresee the consequences before my actions and what was the right thing to do. Granted, this hasn’t changed me drastically to a point where I’m a “good boy”. I’ll always have the teenage habits but I view my privileges and my responsibilities in a different light now. I have pupated. I have grown from a child into a teen. But one day, I knew I will be faced the opportunity to grow from a teen, to a man. But truly, I know. I’m coming of age.