Do we ever really grow up?  

My sister, Barbara, is 5 years older than I am.  As a young girl, I watched the process of her “growing up.”  She started wearing makeup and nylons to school, and I couldn’t wait until I was grown-up enough to do that.

When that time came for me, it actually wasn’t all that great. I had Swim Class at 8:00 a.m., which meant that any makeup I put on before school was lost in the swimming pool.  With only 10 minutes between classes, I had to run through the shower, dry off, dress, comb my hair, (forget the makeup), and wiggle into nylons in about 8 minutes. 

When Barbara started dating, I watched and thought… “Ahhh… THAT is when I will be grown-up.”  My parents did not allow us to date until we were 16. Today, as a parent myself, that seems young, but then it felt like I had to wait FOREVER.  Surely, I would be grown up then!

While dating was a lot of fun, I didn’t really have – what I could call the necessary skills – to always make good dating decisions.  I would choose “needy” boys, or the opposite, boys that were a bit controlling.  So, I definitely wasn’t grown up then.  

When I got married, I thought I was all grown up.  And then I thought I was grown up when I had children.  The “grown-up” target has been constantly moving ahead of me throughout my lifetime.  I actually felt that maybe I was finally grown up about 15 years ago when I went through counseling to deal with a few childhood issues that I had not been able to resolve.  But, although that was extremely helpful to my psyche, there have been other times since then that I have thought… “Okay. Now. Now I am grown up, and if not now, I never will be. ”

Maybe it’s just that as long as we are living, we are learning and growing. Perhaps we don’t grow up until we take our last breath? When we have finally reached our full growth potential on earth?

Yesterday our grandson, Owen, got a new bed.  His first “big-boy” bed.  But when he crawled into it for the first time last night, and his parents asked how he liked his “big-boy” bed, he responded, ” It’s not a big-boy bed. It’s a grown-up bed. NOW I’m a grown-up!”

Wow. I wish I had known it was that easy.

Have you grown up?  If so, what was the catalyst?  If not, when do you think you will be “all grown up?”

Let’s hear YOUR stories!