Being An Adult

I have always thought that grandparents were the icons of wisdom, the "go to" person with he answers, the epitome of patience.

When I was young, I often thought, "When I grow up, I want to be like Grandpa". I looked forward with anxious anticipation to the time when I would have all the answers and all the sage advice.

All of our parents are gone, now, and I have discovered, as I suppose they discovered, that all I have really done is gotten older.

I have learned that being a wise parent and grandparent is not so much what I know, but what I do. And the greatest truth I have learned is that one does not need to grow old to grow wise. The reality is that everyone grows older. What matters is what we keep and/or lose in the process.

We need to keep a sense of humor, but lose the mindless silliness of adolescence. We need to somehow keep our internal youthfulness but lose the irresponsibleness of adolescence. We need to retain our integrity while acknowledging the reality of shades of truth. We must struggle to maintain our health without the obsession of the fitness of youth. We need to encourage sympathy and empathy, while shunning the devastation of "attitude". We learn to put aside the "me first" approach in favor of a sincere desire to share beyond ourselves and out families.

Being an adult simply means that we now know what we should be doing and we move ahead without supervision and do it, even when we really may not feel much like doing it at the time. And so it is and should be in all aspects and areas of our life.

Bob Curtis has been writing articles, short fiction, and poetry for over 30 years. He has been a lay consultant for families and individuals for a number of years. He is currently the managing director of people4people.blogspot.com and is the president of Nexus Publishing, nexus4u.blogspot.com, in Midvale, Utah.