Shining Thru

It’s amazing how tired you can get just from every day life.  I see people running from here to there with their children, have gooey, jelly finger prints on their back from where they carried their baby into the daycare that morning.  Tired circles under every one’s eyes, moving a long, up early from children, chores, or driving to work, gotta get there early and keep it moving.  It’s something our society has trained us as important….or at least with some people.  Some people don’t have a choice, they have to line everything up right and hope that nothing goes wrong, because one thing can throw their whole routine and therefore their whole day off.  The routines of our lives wear on us, bearing down the reality of life and responsibility.  It’s kind of funny when you’re little, very few children ever realize what kind of things their parents have to consider just to make the household work.  You can’t wait to grow up and be one of the adults and then we you become an adult, you long for the days that you could take a nap in the middle of the day and not have to worry about what chores and other things aren’t getting done in the meantime.
Being an adult and having to deal with everything that comes the way of your house or your job, no matter if you are directly involved or not…it is still something you have to deal with.  All of the decisions of every day life start to wear on you until you are distracted from the things that you like to do and enjoy about life because you are too caught up doing the different things that have to be done, and every time you cross one thing off of the list it seems like three more things get added.
It seems like there is just too much to do and not enough time to do it in, especially if you want any kind of social life, or just down time to relax.  In today’s society, I don’t know how some people balance everything that they are a part of along with the regular house chores and family life.  Some of these people have every family member in their household as a member or participant of three, four, five different things…plus school, work, church, etc.  That just seems crazy to me.  It’s hard enough for a single person to have a social life and keep up with work, much less someone with children.
As we move through life, growing up and figuring out that there are many more responsibilities than I ever thought possible as a little kid.  I didn’t realize at the time why parents worked long hours or multiple jobs.  So much is based around money and you have to have a side hustle just to make ends meet.
I have to wonder why we work so hard just to keep afloat in life, but we don’t really have a choice, or at least not options that most of us would choose when it comes down to working hard or being homeless…just just keep it moving and make the sacrifices on the personal level.

Swirling of the soul suddenly stops

Mirrored images of fairies and princesses fade away with the laughter and smiles

Disappearing and growing into reality

Escape of books and imagination becoming a distant memory

As you watch the little girl rise into womanhood through the trials of life

Facts of existence becoming authentic as the woman develops within

Seeing the new reflection of the eyes staring back at you, you realize

New feelings and emotions suppressing the old

Now and forever having to show the validity of the adult

No longer free to spin, dance, and play

No longer free to relax into a tea party or sing without shame

Having to let go of the carefree existence you once knew as reality

Can’t continue to converse with the good friends that dolls and teddy bears become

Sitting alone on the shelf as you wallpaper and paint over the kittens and bows

Not only the walls of the room changing but the inside of the girl

Looking into a world no longer full of innocence, no longer a peaceful sight

Only able to appreciate the occasional break in the clouds

To see the sun and remember the days that the princess was alive and well

When magical fairies were able to roam around the yard as you put on a show of delight for all of those around

Delight in the smile and laughing eyes of the innocent and true joy

The small moments of passion and love that take you back to a feeling of bliss unhindered by life’s existence

Maturity is such an interesting thing….Some people grow up and mature when they are really young, there are some four and five year olds that know rules of society that many adults will never pick up on.  Things like personal space, or putting your nose where it doesn’t belong, or simply listening to the boss because maybe they know what is for the best.  I know four year olds that don’t argue with their parents, where as I see teenagers and adults every day argue back with parents, work bosses, etc.  Disagreeing is not necessarily a bad thing, but arguing just because you don’t want to be wrong or you don’t want to hear someone else’s opinion is completely different than trying to put some good suggestions to help the situation.

There are a lot of adults that I feel like they never grew out of their teenager years, especially those that were spoiled, and yet there are teenagers that I don’t think ever got to be teenagers because they have always been working for everything that they have.

Maturity is an interesting that that comes to people in different stages and at different times in their lives.  What really measures what makes a grown-up?

When are you considered a grown up?  Is it when you own your own car or house?  When you live on your own and have bills?  When you have a family to take care of?  What exactly makes you qualified to make adult decisions?  Why is it that our younger generation is trying their best to speed up the process?  Why do we have girls in middle school who want to have babies of their own, and boys who don’t think about the consequences of their actions?  As scary as it is, the kids who don’t think about the consequences and are in the doctor’s office crying with the results are more comforting than the 10 and 11 year old girls who want to have a baby, or the high school girls and boys who feel like they have to have sex once they get to high school, if they haven’t started already.  This is definitely not the same world I grew up in, the one where I thought my parents would kill me if I even went into a boy’s room at the age of 14.  Now there are pregnant girls in the majority of high schools across America.  Some girls even have goals like having two or three kids before they graduate.  I can’t imagine having children and trying to go to high school.  I give credit to those who are able to pull it off…but it really makes me wonder what kind of life they are going to have after that.  I have seen one high school student step up and really take responsibility and became a great mom who worked and took care of her own child…but mostly I see parents turning into grandparents at such an early age that they just go ahead and adopt their grandchild, sometimes even officially.  It’s great for families to help each other out, but I’m really afraid that some areas of the country are sending a message to kids that it’s ok to mess around because your parents or aunts or uncles will bail you out when you end up in over your head.  I don’t understand why kids want to grow up so fast, they will have plenty of time to make adult decisions when they are adults…..that is if they stop trying to make them when they are too young and a lot of times getting themselves into dangerous situations. 

In all fairness though, there are plenty of people who are legally adults, that you really wonder how they made it this far…and some 13 year olds that have seen things that I may never see in my life, experienced more heart break than any person should have to….so really, what makes you an adult…what makes you mature enough to live your own life and decide your own fate???