What They Didn't Tell You
To continue the list mania that I've seemed to be stuck in as of late (well, yesterday at least), I will give you another list that I've been pondering this past week....(with some help from Ken)
What They Didn't Tell You About Being a Grown-Up
(i.e., things our parents, grandparents, teachers, coaches, and mentors didn't spell out for us outright but that hit you like a sledgehammer once you step out on your own)
(**Disclaimer: These are not in any order. These items are also not necessarily true in my own life....some are taken from listening to the experiences of others.)
-- There are these things called "bills," and when you do not pay enough attention to the payment of these bills, it goes down on your credit history in permanent ink. (and also the fact that there was such a thing called a "credit history," as well).
-- When you get sick as an adult, you are on your own. Yes, if you have a spouse, they can do a pretty good job of taking care of you, but nothing can take the place of Mom's incessant temperature monitoring, words of sympathy that soothe any wound, and warm chicken soup. You now have to quit being a baby when you're sick.
-- You have to know how to drive and how to get there. This reality hit me hard and knocked me flat when I went out the first time with my driver's license. I got in the car, fastened my seatbelt, turned on the radio and the A/C, then sat still. Even though I'd been there a thousand times, I could not for the life of me remember how to get to the county library. I had to humbly ask my sister (8 years old at the time) for directions.
-- Dinner doesn't get itself on the table. If any of you had moms who cooked like mine did, it meant an incredible dinner every single night, seemingly to spontaneously appear on the table promptly at 6pm. Did anyone else know that you actually have to cook that stuff first??
-- It's physically impossible to sleep in any longer. Gone are the days when you can snooze till 11am....whether you have children or not. The internal clock somehow knows when the sun comes up and immediately informs you, whether you like it or not.
-- Finally! You have the ability and the privilege of staying out till ungodly hours of the early morning if you so choose. No one will be calling you at midnight to see if you're home yet, snug as a bug in bed. But then, you slowly realize that you really don't WANT to stay out that late anymore. Why did it seem so fascinating ten years ago? Nothing goes on of any importance (at least in my town) after 10pm.
-- The wisdom which inhabits your parents goes far, far deeper than you ever imagined. Just five minutes in deep conversation with my mom and dad shows me how infinitely more experienced and astute they are than I. I just wish I could have noticed that at age 12 instead of 22.
"I don't wanna grow up, I'm a Toys R Us kid." (Gardner said that. Not me.)
What They Didn't Tell You About Being a Grown-Up
(i.e., things our parents, grandparents, teachers, coaches, and mentors didn't spell out for us outright but that hit you like a sledgehammer once you step out on your own)
(**Disclaimer: These are not in any order. These items are also not necessarily true in my own life....some are taken from listening to the experiences of others.)
-- There are these things called "bills," and when you do not pay enough attention to the payment of these bills, it goes down on your credit history in permanent ink. (and also the fact that there was such a thing called a "credit history," as well).
-- When you get sick as an adult, you are on your own. Yes, if you have a spouse, they can do a pretty good job of taking care of you, but nothing can take the place of Mom's incessant temperature monitoring, words of sympathy that soothe any wound, and warm chicken soup. You now have to quit being a baby when you're sick.
-- You have to know how to drive and how to get there. This reality hit me hard and knocked me flat when I went out the first time with my driver's license. I got in the car, fastened my seatbelt, turned on the radio and the A/C, then sat still. Even though I'd been there a thousand times, I could not for the life of me remember how to get to the county library. I had to humbly ask my sister (8 years old at the time) for directions.
-- Dinner doesn't get itself on the table. If any of you had moms who cooked like mine did, it meant an incredible dinner every single night, seemingly to spontaneously appear on the table promptly at 6pm. Did anyone else know that you actually have to cook that stuff first??
-- It's physically impossible to sleep in any longer. Gone are the days when you can snooze till 11am....whether you have children or not. The internal clock somehow knows when the sun comes up and immediately informs you, whether you like it or not.
-- Finally! You have the ability and the privilege of staying out till ungodly hours of the early morning if you so choose. No one will be calling you at midnight to see if you're home yet, snug as a bug in bed. But then, you slowly realize that you really don't WANT to stay out that late anymore. Why did it seem so fascinating ten years ago? Nothing goes on of any importance (at least in my town) after 10pm.
-- The wisdom which inhabits your parents goes far, far deeper than you ever imagined. Just five minutes in deep conversation with my mom and dad shows me how infinitely more experienced and astute they are than I. I just wish I could have noticed that at age 12 instead of 22.
"I don't wanna grow up, I'm a Toys R Us kid." (Gardner said that. Not me.)
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