School Daze...

Pomp and Circumstance, honor cords, endless ceremonies, tassel turning. Yep, that was me! ....LAST YEAR! OH MAN! It have been a year already!?! I guess time flies when you are figuring out what to do with the rest of your life. Haha. I'm trying to think of the point and which this all bothered me. I suppose that it was this Friday when I watched with pride as my LITTLE sister who I remember wearing diapers and getting kicked out of pre-school, crosssed the stage, a high school graduate and was not so little anymore. It really hit me then. I felt like I was being ousted from the graduate circle, exchanging my carefree days for the ball and chain of adulthood.

Truthfully, I've spent at least a portion of my post-campaign life wishing I was still in college. I have many friends still there, a number who are on the brink of alumnihood and frequent harassment by the campus donor office (as soon as I get healthcare, you'll get your first check, I promise). I want to go back not because, then, my time belonged to me or because I lament monthly loan repayment. Its because so many life spasms are are excused and condoned in under the umbrella of college. I mean, I got away with countless foolish acts (I'm sure that I could have squeezed in a few more)because I was a student, and I can only imagine that the foolishness threshold has only increased since then. My travels through college was frequently punctuated by me telling myself "Jonae, you are about to be an adult, get your act together" Even though a statement like that could send chills through my spine, at least I still had time....to get it together!

Ok, ok, so I am not ready to cast my days as a student into the Hay-day category quite yet. Heck, I still haven't found anywhere to wear the gold shoes I bought for the occasion. But, as I mostly expected, the bar of time has been raised higher and I've switched from "Get the heck out of high school and stay in college as long as possible" mode to "If I can get a man, some kids, a house and a Graduate degree before 30, I've REALLY MADE IT!" mode. It's the most painstaking transition ever because unlike high school and college, where the variables are determined by you (what school, what major, honor roll or not) the variable are much more out of your hands (not totally though, as people would have you to believe.) The standard by which you measure sucess are not so readily accessible and you may have to work harder than ever to achieve them. If you are anything like me, every moment of jubilant success and accomplishment is met with the mounting pressure to climb to a higher height. Not familiar with the pressure? It goes something like this " So you worked on the campaign trail and helped get Barack Obama elected? Wow. So, What are you doing now? " . I think that when we truly become comfortable in adulthood, those conversations bother us less and less....

So here I am, trying to explain to my newly graduated sister, the perks and perils of adulthood and I don't even know fully myself. In premature retrospect (the length of an entry is not really retrospect) I'd say that I'd only trade my 9-5 or my slice of the "change the world" pie out of cowardice. The desire to have hoops to easily jump though and the piece of mind that comes with them. So, what say you adulthood? Huh? Speak up? My youth is trying to drown you out and it's having fun doing it. Adulthood is still kind of a stanger and a fickle friend rolled into one. All I know is that there are lots of bills, and people expect alot of you. Still, I search far and wide for deep, meaningful words of wisdom for the class of 09. Since the don't drink, smoke, or have sex talk is far beyond played out for a generation that has probably done all 3, (besides hindsight is 20/20 right?) I save the energy and say this,

Congratulations class of 2009 and welcome to the great beyond....