Rites of Passage

My family were champion archers. By the time I was 13, I had learned to pull a 60 pound bow. A great achievement.

BBB

Thanks for your response, BBB. That IS a major accomplishment. Had you not learned to do that, would you have felt that you didn't measure up?

The next thing that seemed to be required for me to do was to learn to ride a bike. That took some bravery as well. Learned on a boy's bicycle with coaster brakes. Really scared me when the momentum increased and I had trouble reaching the pedals, but I survived.

My brothers pulled 60 pound bows easily. 60-pound bows are very difficult for women to pull, much less a 13 years old girl. I could not pull that weight many times in a row. I was much more comfortable with a 40-pound bow, which I used in most of my tournaments.

BBB

There were no rites of passage with my family per say. Extended family as in the group of older kids I hung out with, now they had rites of passage.

One involved eatting a worm. I swear to you on that. All i remember is the taste of dirt. But I did it and I didn't fus about it. I remember going home and telling my mom "I ate a worm. I'm like the big boys now." I know they were just picking on me back in hide sight, but I feel as if I was a part of the group after that.

Seed, welcome back. Hee, hee. I have always wondered what it would be like to eat something live.

Then, there was jumping double rope(double dutch). I learned to do that without getting rope burns. Boy did I feel like a princess when everyone clapped.

i have never learned double dutch.

Oh man, when I learned how to ride my bike with no hands... I WAS KING!

This is an interesting topic, and I will read along. Unfortunately, I lived in a family that allowed little, and encouraged nothing. I have no experiences to add.

Well, edgar. What did you do that pleased YOU?

Look, Ma, no hands. I was very cautious with the escapades on my bike, Seed.

Then, there was the first time that I played piano with both hands. That only pleased me.

I can't think of any family rites either. In response to Letty's "what did you do that pleased you" prompt, though, I remember these two huge concrete pipes that were in a playground near my house. Maybe six feet diameter, walls ~6 inches thick, and maybe eight feet long. They were set at slight angles to each other. They were mostly houses or hiding places but the BIG kids jumped from the top of one to the top of another.

They were a good distance apart, and I tried and failed many times (and skinned many knees and elbows) before making it. Felt SO good once I did it. (I don't remember my parents being around for any of this -- we'd go to the playground in loose packs of kids, or else one at a time in expectation of meeting other kids there.)

soz, I worded my original question awkwardly. I should have qualified it by saying, "things that you had seen others in your family accomplish that seem to make them rise a step higher."

Wow! do I ever recall what you are saying, gal. scraped arms and shins were "red badges of courage."

Never could fight, however; but I learned to talk my way out of potential ones. Learned to run, too.

We didn't really have any what I would call a rite of passage, but baiting our own hooks and catching our first fish all by ourselves was a pretty big deal.

I remember that I was forever getting stuck up in high places. I'd have no trouble at all climbing to the very top of tall trees or eagerly hiking to the top of some high hill or cliff. But, when it came to coming back down, I'd literally freeze in place, scared to death and not be able to move for fear of falling. Someone would inevitably have to come up and help me climb down. I remember being stuck up on the outcrop of some big rock at the top of Mt. Diablo for hours and hours while people tried to coax me down, refusing to move and crying my eyes out.

Ah, Butrflynet, do I ever understand being "up a tree without a paddle". Scared to stay; scared to come down.

I caught my first fish on a bamboo pole. It was a red eye. Took it home to show my dad and he said nothing.

i'd say riding a bicycle , but since my brother was seven years older , i was still on a trike when he had a bike .
he did make sure that i advanced to a real bike when i was about six years old - i still have the banged up knees from the many spills as a badge of honour !
looking back , i think i was usually bandaged in one way or another when growing up : bandaged knees , hands , elbows , scraped face ... ... and even in "old age" i still manage to get "banged up" when necessary !

i had a "disagreement" with a sidewalk curb in germany in 2003 - a cool beer was the "healing" prescription - it sure "healed" the sore in a hurry !

some friends wondered if i had been the "loser" in a prizefight - my reply was : "you should see the loser - i'm the winner ! " .

Heh, heh. hbg, I know what you mean about NOW. Great picture of you with your split lip.

Next, for me, there was learning to swim. I started out with mudcrawling. I gradually graduated to deep water and learned to float. Unfortunately, I was near a sliding board and someone came flying down and hit me while I was on my face in the water. I swallowed a bunch of the green kind, and came up crying and spewing like a porpoise.

Man if you want to go over "red badges of courage"

There was at time when I had my big wheel. I must have been like 4 or 5. I loved that thing. I would have rather ride that then my bike at the time. I lived in a culdasac (spelling?) and I wasn't allowed to go past the speed bump that sectioned it off from the road leading out of the neighborhood. There were a bunch of older children that played and road bikes in the same area as me.

They older boys would go fast and jump over the speed bump. On the big wheel I couldn't get quite the speed needed to launch myself into the air. So to solve this, the boys made a game out of it. I would go as fast as I could and as I got close to the speed bump, they would in turn, fly up behind me as fast as they could and launch me over the speed bump by ramming into the back of the Big Wheel.

I loved it. I had bruises all up and down my back from the seat of the Big Wheel hitting my back. This actually caused a bit of trouble at school. The teachers saw the bruises and thought I was being beaten at home. Someone from CPS came out to our house and talked to my parents about the matter. At which point I was sent outside so the adults could "talk".

My mom laughed at what the lady said and pointed out to the window which was framing me perfectly as I was launched over and over again.

I never found out about the CPS lady coming until many years later. I think I had more pride in my bruises then, then I did at the point at which I received them.

I don't remember that esisode. Was I with you at the time?

BBB

my family were all pretty athletic- my father lettered in three sports so he always encouraged participation in sports and games amongst our own family. He and my big brother were good baseball players - so we always played that as a family and at church picnics, etc- and I was really proud when I got to the point that I could stand in for my brother as the shortstop - my dad said, Rebecca's glove is like a vacuum cleaner'

As far as impressing myself - it was when I could finally do a penny-drop on the jungle gym in the school playground. All my friends were gymnasts and really pretty talented - and they used to just do this penny-drop thing off the bar - you hung from your knees- the bar was about shoulder height from the ground- and you started swinging your body back and forth until you had this momentum going and then you flung yourself off the bar and landed on your feet.

It was the kind of thing that if you couldn't do it and tried and messed up - you'd hurt yourself pretty bad - landing on your head and all - but I got my friend to spot me until I thought I could do it - and then one day - I did it...
after that I wasn't afraid to try much of anything.

Stuart and dad were, I don't remember if you were. It was an outcropping up at the very top near the ranger tower. I think we had some of the neighborhood kids with us too. If memory serves me right, I was in 4th or 5th grade. I don't remember who it was but someone finally climbed up and helped me down by holding onto my feet and guiding my footsteps down the rock.