Sitting on the Fence Between Past and Future Tense

I've reached it. It being the point at which I have officially stopped being an adolescent, and am now an adult in our American society. Across the globe, coming of age ceremonies occur on a yearly basis to mark that the next group of children have become the youngest adults in the given society. Here in the "civilized" land of the Free, the coming of age ceremony has become less and less dramatic, and more focused on what us Americans truly strive for: success. You may have guessed it already, but I'm heading off to college. I'm going out on my own, and attempting to survive. I'll have a room to call a place of my own, I'll wake up on my own accord, stay out as long as I wish and do practically whatever I choose and face the consequences and rewards they will bring. It's a big step, and that is why it marks my coming of age. Everything my mother, father, siblings, teachers, and peers have taught me over the last 18 years will be put to the test, and hopefully it will all work out for the best.

Going to college, of course, has its changes that are not as fortunate, or atleast hard to cope with for atleast a bit. First off, I will be living on my own. Its a good and bad thing. Second, I will for the first time call a different city, state, and most importantly living space my home. Ever since my birth I have been a citizen of Louisville, KY with my residence at 6904 Roseborough Court. That is not so anymore. Say hello to Eigenmann Hall, Room 1153, Bloomington, Indiana. That's where I will call the majority of the coming year home. With that said, I will miss my home. I will miss the big, comfortable bed found in the green room at the far end of the upstairs hallway. I will miss the piping hot, delicious homecooked meals my mother so regularly placed on the kitchen table for me. I will miss the large backyard, where my lovely pool will sit idle. Most of all, I will miss the familiarty of my only home, its comfortable spots that I have spent my youth enjoying.

Moving outward in the scope of things, I will miss the city I have called home for all 18 years of my life. What a city it is. Its big, but its so small. It's everything you could ever hope for in a city. It has been a great place to grow up, and has provided me with countless opportunities to expand my mind, learn about myself and the world, and just have countless amounts of good time. There are too many things about this city that I will miss but I will tell you there is a lot. I will miss the local hangout hotspots: Stonybrook for our years as freshman and sophomores, Heine Bros. and the Loop it can be found on, as well as the rest of Bardstown Road that strecthes beyond. Who will ever forget the countless days spent playing on the grass of Seneca Park? I will miss my daily driving routes, the long haul to Whitney's way out in God's Country. I will miss the nights spend on the banks of the Ohio on the Great Lawn. It will all be here when I come back, but its those daily things I have come to love over the past couple years that I will miss.

I will miss alot of things when I move away to college. But change comes, and change is needed. Some thing will always be there, and somethings will never be there again. In the end, it has all been a part of my first 18 years in some way and has changed me somehow. Now, I wait in eager anticipation of how the next couple years will change me.