QUOTE OF THE WEEK

Time to Grow Up, originally uploaded by R. Elizabeth.

"Everybody knows it hurts to grow up.
And everybody does..."
-Ben Folds, STILL FIGHTING IT

I have listened to this song a lot over the years, but heard it with new ears today, especially this quote. As I reach different milestones in my life, I usually take pause to think about the growing pains and reflect on the past. I guess that might be obvious to you all in light of my recent post about the Dar Williams' song WHEN I WAS A BOY from earlier this week.

I think that the truth for a lot of us is, while we desperately want to be adults and have the freedom that comes with it, growing up does hurt and can suck sometimes. Parents/teachers/relatives/neighbors tell us not to rush it, but that makes us want to grow up even more. The thought of being an adult is similar to being given keys to a secret land, full of promise and hope. We have dreams of driving cars with no curfews, making our own choices, finding our soul mate. We scheme about living in another city far away from the current forced daily occurrences of our high school halls. Yet, as we claw our way up closer and closer to this right of passage, we get hurt (a lot) and are scared to think back. Why is that?

Maybe, while we are so busy looking forward, we forget to look at the here and now. Even though my high school years are gone, a good part of me is still that girl who is wandering the halls of my mind, daydreaming about the hope that is housed in the locker labeled "future." After thinking more about this, maybe I will try to keep my eyes open and take in what is around me--the good, the sucky, the hurt and the beautiful. At least, we can all remember that we definitely aren't alone in this--after all, everyone does have to grow up sometime.