Coming of Age Watches

     

Katie

Cerise

Alicia

     All over the world “coming of age” has a different caliber of importance and meaning, but in general the term is related directly to cultural expectations of growing older. Coming of age specifically refers a designated time in which an individual transforms from childhood into adulthood. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the term as “the attainment of prominence, respectability, recognition, or maturity.” National Geographic’s and other popular television programs feature special shows on the different coming of age rituals and trials, that make turn 21 and being able to legally drink seem inconsequential. If curiosity consumes you as it does me, you can view these televised specials and see some of the many. They have featured the Amazon's Satere Mawé tribe that preforms a coming of age ritual requiring boys to wear gloves filled with bullet ants for 10 minute intervals up to 20 times. An additional episode they have featured was rather unimaginable surrounding the crocodile scarification of the Sepik River tribe of Papua New Guinea. This ritual requires the boys to get hundreds and hundreds of razor cuts to eventually heal into the appearance of alligator skin. As gruesome as these rituals can get, they are all perfect examples of how severe this coming of age can be for some cultures.

     Whether you look at it as coming into manhood, a technical loss of innocence, or a journey to finding your true self, coming of age is much different in contemporary American society. Most of us experience our first signs of this transition when we turn 18 years old and are officially considered a legal adult. Whether this means we are required to pay our own bills or make our own doctors appointments for the first time, it is the first real glimpse into the “real world”.  There also comes a time for most 18 year olds to leave home and learn to be independent and balance life, academics, and activities in a new setting known as college. Before taking this big leap we get the amazing experience of graduating from high school and being rewarded for four years of hard work and perseverance. For many of us, this is the official coming of age that changes the way in which we have lived for the first potentially awkward years of life.

     For Cerise, Alicia, and Katie, June 2012 was one of the important months of their lives. All three girls graduated high school and began to face the facts that their futures were just at their fingertips. This huge transition would mean that they would be leaving the place where they were born and raised, and pressured to make the right decisions for their lives. Although each girl faced an incredibly different journey to get where they are now, each girl shares something very special in common: they all received a watch from a generous family member on their graduation day.

     Cerise received her gold and black accented Invicta watch from her step-Grandfather. “He was the most important male figure in my life and it meant the world to me that he bought me such a beautiful watch,” said Cerise looking back on that day. “I wear it as much as I can and picture his face every time I look down at it.” Receiving a watch seems like a very ordinary gift, but there is a lot more to it than just an accessory. For some reason watches have the connotation of respect and maturity simply because as we grow up we see older, wiser people always wearing watches. Alicia explained how her father gave her watch before her graduation ceremony so that he would be with her as she walked across the podium and stepped into the real world. She expressed how her emotions ran wild as she laughed at the memories she once made and cried for the friends that she would be leaving behind. The watch was Alicia’s sense of stability, “ As soon as I felt the tears filling my eyes I looked down at the watch and felt that I was stronger than ever before.” Though a watch is just as simple as any other piece of jewelry, a classic watch will never loose style, just as wearing a watch will always be appropriate. Katie is an only child; therefore she was the first (and only) child that her parents would get to watch graduate and find all of the success that she deserves in life. Her parents wanted to give her a gift that she would be able to wear almost everyday as a reminder that they will always support her 100%. They had given her necklaces, rings, bracelets, and earrings as gifts in the past, but most of those pieces just lay in Katie’s over crowded jewelry box. Katie explains, “They told me that they finally decided on a watch when they were at the jewelry counter and realized that I already had too much jewelry that I don’t wear. Then they noticed the saleswoman wearing a gorgeous watch and thought about how I had never owned my own watch.” She went on to explain how they gave it to her and, of course, how her mom cried because for the first time she saw her as the beautiful young adult she was becoming. Three different 18-year-old girls received a high school diploma. Three different towns, three different schools, and three different families watched these girls progress into their coming of age. Three different girls will go through life with a story of how they received a watch on one of the most important days of their life. And three different watches that will experience three different journeys.