Personal Narrative: Becoming Adults

Walking away from everything you once knew and starting over is never a picnic. Leaving Iraq, and moving to America has impacted my life more than anything. I was only 4 years old at that time, and the only English I spoke was “excuse me, water please.” My family and I did not know it then, but our lives were going to change; we would become “Americanized”. Learning English was one of the massive changes that occurred, the way I dressed (culture), and even the way I had power to go to school and educate myself.

It was the day the junior high volleyball girls played Madison Grant! They were the only team that we lose to last year.We were going back and forth and back. It was a really good game. Who won the biggest rivalry in Frankton JH?

Over my years of school, one big influence on me has always been sports. Ever since a young age, I have always enjoyed playing and watching sports. In my four years in high school, I have fell in love with the sport of lacrosse.

I woke up and took one bite out of my pop tart but that one bite was all I could eat. My legs were shaking, and my heart was pounding. My dad told me, “It is a true honor to even make it this far so go out there and have some fun.” Once I heard this statement, I knew I was ready to go. I arrived at school and boarded the bus. The car ride was an hour and fifteen minutes of hearing the squeaking of the wheel on the bus. My teammates were getting their heads ready for the big game.

Becoming the new kid all over again. Getting looked down upon. Not knowing my way around the school. Officially becoming responsible for my own actions.

Just so you know, this is the Big Apple and I rule this town. New York City is filled with tall buildings, great culture, and historical sites. No other city has so much beauty that it takes your breath away; yet, there is a real danger that lurks on the streets. I should know because I am Detective Michael Morgan a United States Super Spy in charge of capturing dastardly villains who are set on destroying our world. Armed with mind-altering powers, Alex Higgins is on the top of the FBI’s list of the ten most wanted men in America. This thug is one of the greatest danger to our world and must be captured and jailed in the vault of death. There is no place safe for him to hide from the law and rumor has it, he is in my town. You break the law here in New York City, you pay the ultimate price: freedom.

I consider an adult to be someone that is responsible for themselves financially. They pay the bills, do taxes, and work for a paycheck. Adults make the world go around, anything that requires skills or training to do can only be done correctly a trained and experienced adult. They played a crucial part in all the advances in technology in the past millennials. If all of them were suddenly abducted by aliens we would have drastic changes.

I came to Ridge Family Center for Learning in second grade. On top of being “the new kid” in school, I didn’t know anyone besides my neighbor. She had been going to this school since kindergarten and I ate lunch with her and her friends everyday. One day, as I ate my usual PB & J, she said “Are you excited for the musical?” Apparently it happens every year, yet I was not aware of this. Naturally, being a little kid, I was excited and screamed “Really? I love watching people perform!” My parents loved musicals and took me to see my fair share of them. She gave me a strange look and laughed. “You don’t get to watch. We’re performing on the stage, silly!” My jaw dropped. All I could think about was how scared I was. I was about to sing on stage in front of 200 parents.

The Finals Feast is a picnic/grill-out event that is held the last weekend before finals exams begin (April 30th). The plan is to have Aramark cater a meal on the concrete area between Honors Hall and Mathews Hall and have chairs and tables set-up in the same area. Frisbees, footballs, and yard games will be placed on the southeast lawn of Mathews Hall for students to enjoy. Plans have already been made for someone to play music for the event. This year would be the 3rd annual Finals Feast.

Leaving home signifies a coming of age into the beginning of adulthood, they say that’s when you really start to grow up. I was around thirteen years old when when my mother and I left home. It was around that time that I realized I couldn’t be a kid anymore, I no longer had that privilege. Thinking back, it seems like a dream you’ve just woken up from that you only have a vague memory of.

While big events can make major changes, little events define how we become as adults. My earliest memories is at a five year-old. It is one spot where I have been to, in my thoughts, more than any other has. In this memory, it was evening, as I stood on a dirt path. It was an unpaved driveway for the church parsonage.

As adolescents, our brains are just starting to develop to help our bodies and our personalities mature. Hormonal changes in boys and girls include adrenarche, gonadarche, and menarche (King 2002). Adrenarche usually begins when a child is between the ages of 6 and 8 and controls skeletal growth, skin changes, and hair growth. Gonadarche contributes to the growth of genitals and breasts and menarche refers to the beginning of girl’s menses. Menarche comes later in the advanced stages. Although these phases of development happen outside of the brain, they are the first change that an adolescent goes through and the increase in hormones can cause mood swings and different ways of thinking.

Throughout childhood we all say “I can’t wait till I’m a grownup” or we’ve been told the excuses of “when you’re older, you can…” Something along those lines has been told to every child, a person under the age of eighteen. I certainly remember the those times. It usually occurred when my parents and I were in our local King Supers and I began begging my mother for the king size recess peanut butter cups. Begging and pleading as though I was going to die if it didn’t get paid for and they each no followed another plea finally ended with her saying “When you’re grown up and have your own money you can buy as many as you want”.

I'm going to be twenty-three in February, and only one more left I'm until twenty-four and then my brain will be completely developed, I can go into high-end strip clubs and be able to insure a Lamborghini plus my insurance should be at its lowest. Not that I plan on ever going into a strip-club or wanting a Lamborghini I have other things on my mind. Today I've decided to talk about adulthood and growing up in general. I don't see myself by any stretch as an adult because all my life I've envisioned adults as super intelligent human beings. A transformation that would allow foresight, judgement, decision-making, multi-tasking, and the end to assholes everywhere. What a fantasy I was living in, instead you're thrown, cradled or never make

Here I am, a twenty-seven-year-old. I never dated anyone or even had a real job. Today, I am face to face with a prostitute. Let me just say I am clueless when it comes to anything sexual. And to be clear, I am not attractive. I am full of scars and I am literally skin and bones. I think to myself, “Why I’m I here?”, “Is this what it means to be an adult?”. Well let me tell you a story of my depression incident with loneliness.