I was going to become an adult this Christmas.
I was going to buy and hang Christmas lights on the outside of my house.
I purchased a $10 box of icicle lights from Walgreens three weeks ago, and since then there has not been one day when I have been home when it was still light out, and not not one night when I have been home when it wasn't raining. (No offense, Seattle. I still love you.)
Finally this afternoon, my home teachers came over with a ladder. It was too short. Knowing that there are no exterior plugs around the house, I had previously purchased a little socket thing that screws into the flood light. It did not conduct electricity at all. I am leaving to go home in two days anyway, so I gave up my three-week battle, thanked my home teachers, and cursed the Grinch for trying to keep Christmas from coming to my little house.
The bigger disappointment is that I did not get to claim this rite of passage. There have been many moments in the past decade when I have thought, "Ah Ha! Now I am an adult!" For example, I had that thought the first time I:
- Drove a 15-passenger van full of teenage girls
- Bought a toaster oven
- Filled out my own tax return form
- Drove a drunken undergrad to the ER
- Used my ID to get into a club
- Received a Christmas card that was addressed just to me
- Signed a lease
- Bought lingerie for a friend's bridal shower
There is also something that feels very "old" in taking over a tradition that used to belong exclusively to my parents; my dad has always put up the exterior lights for our family. Overall it feels grown-up to try to create Christmas where I live and not just wait to experience Christmas until I go home to my parents' collection of music, decorations and lights. Like an adult, I am trying to own Christmas in my current home.
It looks like I will have to wait until next year to work out all the kinks so that I can finally hang up my exterior lights. Then I will be able to say, "Ah Ha! Now I am an adult!" one more time.
