March 4, 2010

Adventures In Adulthood

Greetings from the deep end!
Yesterday I had this great idea for a blog. I thought that I would write about my ever lengthening voyage into becoming an adult. A great friend once looked me in the eye and said, "One day Derick, you will be a man." At first I wasn't sure what to think about this as it sounded a little like a joke and a little like...mean. He went on to say that the phrase was something that his mother had always said to him. I took it as friendly ribbing and went on about my day. This was seven years ago. Every now and again my mind chooses to bring up those few words and contemplate them. By "contemplate" I obviously mean "chew on them until they drive me past the point of insane to the point of 'mushy brain'". I think, however, that I might know what they mean, or at least what they mean to me. As a 19 year old kid getting ready to leave home for the first time and go to college in another country I thought it was a hit on my adulthood. I thought at that point in my life that I had already arrived. That I was an adult. That all that a person must attain to achieve "manhood" had magically come to me in my sleep the night before my 18th birthday. I now know that I was very wrong, and perhaps this is what my friend was hinting at. That being, adulthood or manhood or even womanhood for that matter (something I know less and less about every day) is not an all or none thing. A person is not either an adult or not an adult but is ALWAYS in the process of becoming...more. I have realized that growing up does not end at age 18, or when a person moves out of their parents house, but continues on through life.

It would also seem that the most grown up people are still children at heart, that is, the happiest adults that I have ever met, are still able to laugh and play and enjoy life as if they were a child. I find this fact particularly annoying as I try to speak of my current ventures to my mother, who is evil and has no sympathy. I had a diarrhea and urine filled diaper blow up on me and my bed at 6:45 this morning (I was unaware that 6:45 came twice a day). Mother dearest has no sympathy...why? Because she is more grown up than me. She has experienced more of what the college of adulthood has to offer. That which kills me is old hat to her. She only laughed and said "I love you." Well, that's great mother, but love doesn't wash the dirty sheets does it? I only hope that some day I am mature enough to laugh at Xander when he calls me to tell me that his little one has helped him to grow up in a similar manner.

One final thought, perhaps adulthood isn't just a trek into maturity but is an exercise in modifying our perspective on life. Maybe growing up is more gaining God's perspective that says no problem on earth is such a "big deal" when compared to his greatness and the greatness of what and who he has made.

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