I turned 21 last week and it was both underwhelming, yet comfortable to me.Â
See, I am quite the sheltered 21-year-old. I live with my parents while attending university, I donât typically go out, and I donât think Iâve ever been in a club before â safe for 18 or not. Donât get me wrong, Iâm not saying Iâm naive to the world, but I feel like I donât have the freedom that is afforded to students living on campus or away from home.Â
When I thought about turning 21, I was expecting heavy drinking and nightclubs, or maybe even a quieter gathering of friends drinking in the living room playing Cards Against Humanity, or playing Jackbox on the TV. All of my friends and even my boyfriend were hyping me up for the big day.Â
âYouâre fully legal now!âÂ
âWhy donât you buy me a drink?â
âOn your birthday, letâs go out to a club and drink together.â
I always went along with it, laughing along and humoring them with affirmative âdefinitelyâ, but in the back of my mind, I knew it would never happen. And while I wouldâve felt upset and an intense sense of FOMO wouldâve washed over me as a freshman, I have since come to terms with my situation. And, it makes me wonder and slowly realize that Iâm probably not the only one who has spent their 21st like this. There is nothing wrong with spending your 21st birthday with the people you love and eating good food. Following the crowd and adhering to overly romanticized life milestones such as this is not the dream that most people would expect.Â
So while I didnât go to the club drinking until 1 AM and stumbling home, I celebrated with my family. We went to a buffet that opened up near our house, my boyfriend and brother both bought me gifts, and then the next free day, my boyfriend took me to the East Falls Fest and Linvilla Orchards. At both events, I tried my first legal drink as a 21-year-old. I believe I tried a chai tea cider and the hard âapple cider doughnutâ cider. Both were mid and reminded me of why I donât like drinking. Not only that, but it made me realize that I like small sizes of alcohol to sip on â not 18 ounces of bitterness that I would need to chug to avoid the taste.
My new goal as a new 21-year-old is to try as many alcoholic drinks as I can (in small quantities because I donât want to commit!) and discover âmy drink.â It was pretty devastating news to learn that most alcohol is bitter and that the flavor profile of sweet cannot mask the bitterness. In fact, only the taste of sour or salt can dampen the bitterness, but I donât want a salty drink! I wanted the drinks to taste as they looked! Fun, fruity, and colorful! But, if restaurant drinks cannot appease my expectations, maybe Iâll make my own with 9 parts juice and 1 part alcohol. Either way, 21 or not, I donât plan on making drinking alcohol a regular occurrence in my life. I do want to try things for curiosityâs sake.