In a culture with perpetual Peter Pan syndrome, growing up has become a phenomenon that seems dark and cruel.

But that’ll never happen to me, I’ll be a Toys ‘Я’ Us kid forever!

But the inevitable happens. Birthdays mark the passage of time, and with greater age comes greater responsibility. In the wake of alumni weekend, it’s hard to ignore the burning truth: One day we will all be college graduates.

Now, ‘college graduate’ doesn’t seem too scary, right? Wrong ‘ I think it’s terrifying.

The idea of calling myself a college graduate is an absolutely preposterous joke that the universe is trying to trick me into believing. Yesterday I was graduating elementary school, now I’m going to graduate from college?

When I was younger I thought it would be light-years until I even attended college. Hell, 16-year-old camp waiters and waitresses seemed so mature to me as they coupled up on their respective rocks behind their respective trees not-so-secretly petting each other. After being one of those waitresses I realized that everyone feels too young to be the age they are.

Maybe I’ve been a little preoccupied with age lately, but it seems to be an omnipresent theme in our lives. Perhaps it’s less about your age and more about the bizarre stage your life has crashed into.

An alumna recently told me, ‘God will not present you with anything that you cannot handle. Put one foot in front of the other, and you will get somewhere.’ While I don’t quite find my motivation in the Almighty, I can appreciate the sentiment she was relaying.

You are capable. Everyone is met with challenges and obstacles dangled dauntingly in your face daring you to fail, to give up. Sometimes it’s not the task that seems impossible ‘ it’s the idea of facing that particular task.

And so I become an advocate of living off campus. College is transition, but the post-graduate world isn’t just about knowing how to do your own laundry and rolling out of bed in time to throw on a bra and a sweatshirt and make it to class.

This year I have more deadlines than ever. My classes and Pipe Dream aside, I also have to make sure I pay my rent, cable, electricity and water bills on time. Believe me, the prospect of having to explain to my parents why my rent check was late is a lot scarier than my editor’s wrath (sorry, boss) or my professor’s potential reluctance to give me the A that I deserve (because I should always get an A, dammit!).

Basically, it boils down to letting life happen. Don’t be passive, but don’t forget that new responsibilities can also bring you good things. My full-size bed is a terrific upgrade from the XL twin captain beds in College-in-the-Woods.

I still kind of wish it was socially acceptable for me to gift my friends with skip-its and rainbow machines, but that hasn’t stopped me so far. If anything, living in this phase called ‘college’ has taught me that keeping a little bit of Peter Pan with me is important.

Peter never could have balanced a checkbook, but he still reminds me to have Disney movie marathons when I’m done.