The power of rituals

Something old, something new

So many things in our lives have (or are) rituals, most especially for the beginnings of things and the ends of things.  We have:

• weddings
• buying a house
• funerals
• Quinceañeras
• retiring
• having sex for the first time
• divorces
• bat mitzvahs
• birthdays (especially big round ones and eighteen and twenty-one)
• getting a drivers license
• graduations
• having children
• and so on.

There’s one thing we don’t have a ritual for, though.  Becoming an adult.

A Real Adult.

Something missing, something blue

The question “When am I a Real Adult?” is one coming up over and over on the Internet – sometimes seriously and sometimes not (See Also: Hyperbole and a Half, “This is why I will never be an adult”).  For so many of us, life isn’t on that simple trajectory that history and stories tell us it should go on.

We’re past college or never could go or finished grad school or still in school. We’re married or not married or dating or never had a SO or not interested in one or divorced.  We’re living with our parents (maybe even if we’re married) or renting or maybe even owning our own house.  We’ve got small children of our own or maybe one or maybe none at all.  Whether we’re married or not.  We’ve got great jobs or none at all or working hand-to-mouth because the economy or reasons or working at a job we hate that pays the bills or working any job we can and it’s not enough.

And in all of this, we struggle to meet some kind of marker or milestone or ritual that puts rest to the little voice that says “you’re not really an adult yet”.  Because whatever we do, it’s not enough.

Something borrowed, something true

It sucks watching friends go through this struggle, where they just keep waiting for that outside approval.  So – give it to them.  With this:

There’s no rite of passage or graduation party for when you become a Real Adult – but you can get this spiffy certificate!

You can use this handy PDF to print out your own certificate and give it to people you love.  It’s totally free!  Because I Can.

You can also get this as stationary, on nice heavy linen paper, over at Zazzle right here.  Because that’s how I roll – too many options.

For those of you who are self-certifying in your adulthood, I’ll have a version up for you soon.  Stay tuned.  More ideas soon.

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