There is a little ceramic chalice that lives on my bookshelf. It is small and unassuming, the kind of item a visitor might overlook if they were not searching for it. But I know it is there. I have carried it with me through every move, through heartbreak and healing, through milestones and transitions. It has been with me in moments of celebration and in moments of quiet grief. That chalice was placed into my hands during my bridging ceremony, the ritual that marked my passage from Unitarian Universalist youth into young adulthood. At the time, I understood it as a moment of graduation, a simple rite of passage, a ceremonial goodbye to one chapter and a welcome to another. What I did not yet grasp was the deep spiritual grounding it would offer me in the years to come. That chalice has become more than a symbol; it is a reminder of belonging, of sacred continuity, and of the courage to keep becoming. I was raised in a Unitarian Universalist congregation, and I hold that upbringing wit...
