Ah, the 21st anniversary of expulsion from mother’s uterus. The big one, the last important birthday. From here on out, the only birthdays that matter end in fives and zeroes. Many a college student has eagerly counted down the days until their 21st—the day they can finally buy alcohol, hit the bars and vomit up all of those complimentary birthday shots.
My 21st birthday was last week. No longer did I have to rely on buyers. No longer did I have to sit bored in Buffalo Wild Wings while older (or fake ID-carrying) friends racked up tabs that could cover an Engineering major’s textbook costs. The night was spent touring the bars; I tried some drinks and had a deep conversation with a Vietnam veteran about his desire to hunt Velociraptors in the Amazon Rainforest.
The next day I woke up with my first hangover. As I struggled to lift my head off of my pillow, I thought, “Now what?”
A few days later I went into a liquor store for the first time. I walked into the store, grabbed some Four Locos, showed my ID, paid and left. There was nothing special whatsoever about that transaction. Booze had lost its rebellious edge.
When we were freshmen, we happily found our buyers and proceeded to load our mini fridges with 24-packs of Bud Light or Coors. You could see us the night of every party waiting outside the gas station with the engine running and lights on while our buyers went inside. We then smuggled it all back into the dorm in our backpacks; those silly desk clerks never knew.
Like the awesome rebels we were, we defiantly held up cans of beer in Facebook profile pictures. All of our relatives and people-you-met-once-but-added-you-anyway must have thought, “Watch out, we’re dealing with a badass here!” We proudly lined our dorm room shelves with empty bottles just so visitors knew we were such rebellious, hardcore drinkers—even if someone else helped drink some of those bottles.
It all changes when you turn 21. Drinking isn’t an event anymore, it’s just something you do. Just wait for the minors to start asking you to buy now! Parties lose their edge, too. Who cares if you can’t find one when the bars are always there as an alternative?
You don’t even get to keep the aforementioned Facebook picture, because A) That picture of your drunk self won’t appeal to a potential employer, and B) It makes you look like an alcoholic.
This isn’t to say alcohol can’t be fun anymore. There are great times to be had in bars that you’d never find at a house party. You can share a few drinks with friends without binge drinking to see who can blow the highest on a breathalyser test when the party’s busted. At the end of the day (or more aptly, the next morning), the pounding in your head feels just about the same as it did before drinking was legal.
