"Please, call me ______"

“Please, call me James.”

Not “Mr.”  Just “James.”

It’s a small thing,

But one that makes all the difference.

When adults—real adults—dispense with the formalities

It places you on equal footing

Despite a decades-long disparity in experience.

For me, this was the first clear sign of being an “adult,”

A signifier that I had

Transcended the boundary between childhood and

Adulthood. Not being eighteen, not voting,

But having people much older than me

Allow me to address them as a peer.

The last eighteen years have been

Defined by my relationship to adults,

To the “Mr.’s” and “Mrs.’” of my world.

But now, instead of looking up

To those I respect, I can look

Straight ahead.