The Epiphany of Growing Up

Talking on the phone, pacing the sidewalk seemed a totally normal way to pass time by on a warm summer night. Geanece’s loud voice filled the phone, so that her voice carried into the silent summer night. Geanece was always loud, everyone knew her as being loud and they loved her for it. Catching me off guard, our simple conversation of the plain old “How are you…how’s the family…any new boys….” took a serious turn. Geanece suddenly stated the fact that we were growing up so fast and soon enough we would be adults. Having not thought about those ridiculous thoughts much before, I laughed and calmly stated that is was about time. Geanece, the happy person she was, cracked up about my unserious comment. She attempted to bring up the “real talk” moment again, and I realized how serious she was. Not being a very serious person, I knew this was important. I realized that I was now sitting, something that I hardly ever did while on the phone. I then looked around and realized even that exact moment I was becoming second by second closer to the rest of my life.
I’ve know Geanece since I was ten years old and barely starting the sixth grade, having been friends with someone for years, you recall memories with them about everything. I rattled off about when we first started hanging out with Lorenzo, Sibley, Zak and Dominic, how we’d make jokes about everything and we thought we were so cool. She added in the middle school dances and how unbelievably horrible they were. Caught up in our reminiscing we brought up the times when we all would tease Sibley and how Continuation was a huge step in our lives. Within no time, we realized that our years spent being friends had flown by. Everyone of our memories involved our “group” or friends and we came to the conclusion that are friends have always been there for us and make our memories what they are, which is unforgettable. Laughing at each hysterical memory made me understand that those memories and inside jokes would never be relived, never replaced and never forgotten. No matter where our lives would take us, we would always have those friends to fall back on and if not them, then the memories which represented them.
Our reminiscent conversation turned into a curious chat about our futures. Geanece questioned me about where I wanted to go to college, this made me revert to pacing the sidewalk, and up until that very point I hadn’t put much thought into it. She pointed out to me that we were about to be juniors and had recently turned sixteen. I understood where she was coming from and made the connection that just as quickly as those prior six years had went by, the next two years of high school would be gone within the blink of an eye.
Growing up and leaving all those memories, all those people I cared so much about, scared me. Explaining to her that in two years we could possibly be seeing some of the peers that we had practically grown up with, for the last time. Knowing that we would all venture off to different parts of the world and start the lives that we all had dreamt of, made my eyes water. Due to my lack of emotional control, Geanece also started to tear up. No longer would we be held in our safe CA community, but we’d be released into the world. Lorenzo and Sibley could potentially own their own recording label in New York, Zak could be a big, fuzy high paid fireman, and Alex could end up a chef in California. For all we knew, the Gustapo could end up taking over the world.
Later that night, I talked to my mom about my friend that had recently informed me that he was going to be a father. Barely at the age of eighteen and starting his senior year of high school, I looked at my mother in disbelief. It couldn’t be real! The thought of my immature friend taking care of himself, and a baby as well seemed outrageous. My mother brought up the fact that many people have babies at a young age now days, and I was reminded of yet another friend who had a baby already. This friend was Neto, he was only sixteen and had a one year old baby boy. Neto also had been shot to death a little over a month prior to this conversation with my mom. As my eyes watered, I questioned my mother about the way the world is. Neto was one of the sweetest kids you could meet, and that was exactly it, he was just a kid. My mother responded to me that he wasn’t just a kid in fact he had to grow up. I had always known of death paying its visit to elderly people and even sometimes to people in there thirties and forties. To find out that my sixteen-year-old friend, not that different from me had his life taken away. When I first found out about Neto’s death I was in disbelief, then my disbelief turned into pain, and finally into anger. He left behind his baby boy and many loved ones, how was it that I should have to cope with that? My mother’s only response was that as we grow up we have to deal with things that may be unusual and difficult, but that is part of growing up.
In twenty years every moment of my present life will be just a memory of my past. Those memories will be similar to the ones I spent three hours reminiscing about with Geanece. At the age of sixteen, a junior in high school, I have come to realize I’m growing up and my life is changing. Soon, I’ll be an adult and set free to be on my own, living my own life. Ultimately my memories will be all I have of my past. Even that exact phone conversation with Geanece that I spent laughing and crying will be one of those cherished memories that I will look back on while I sit with my unconditional friends on my couch in my house.