Quinceañeras: From Childhood To Adulthood

Quinceañeras: they mark the beginning of a girl’s womanhood. Cherished by girls all over the Americas but dreaded by their parent’s wallets. Mine was as chaotic as it could be. My little cousins running around our small house, my aunts struggling to get ready for the party, and the sounds of pans and spoons clacking as my mom prepared the evening’s dinner. This all added to the mayhem that was that day. It was a day that I had looked forward to ever since I was a little girl. I wish I could say that my quinceñera marked my transition from being a little girl to a young adult, but that just isn’t the case. I stat on my bed trying to assess a difference in my body and my mind to as if there were to be any clear and obvious indication that I was no longer a child. But the thing is, you cannot simply wake up on your fifteenth birthday and become an adult. Adulthood should not be marked by a person’s age, but rather by his/her mental maturity. In order to become an adult, one should be able to live a life where one is financially comfortable along with many other basic necessities of living a comfortable life. One should be able to learn from your mistakes, know his/her limits, and know that everything is great in moderation.

I consider that a great accomplishment even though the majority of people my age have jobs and consider it easy to obtain one. My parents were never too keen on me getting a job, but I did it anyway because I felt it was time for me to take on that responsibility. It was a part-time position at a frozen yogurt shop. I recall feeling as if my heart was going to burst out of my chest during the interview, but I tried to keep my composure. It did not go terribly as I assumed it would. I came out feeling ten times more confident than I felt going into the job. Shortly after, I was told I began in a