Screw adulthood. I want to play and not worry about time. I want to have all my needs taken care of for me and not have to think about employment or taxes or any of that stuff. Who needs to think about politics and religion and love and feelings?
It seems the difficult stuff was never in the manual. Parents would offer vague warnings about savoring our youth and enjoying simplicity without directly stating what about adulthood sucked so much. All we saw was a life free from stupid rules and chores and stuff. So many of us were not schooled on the responsibility adulthood carries. We were told bits and pieces, educated in math and science and history, but we weren't prepared for this life of bill payment and maintenance. We were told that we were special, that we had something to offer the world. Who would have thought they were merely referring to our time?
It was a conversation I had briefly with my sister-in-law on her birthday earlier this week. Adulthood carries the responsibility of time management, of child rearing, of management of emotions, of deferring happiness for the sake of the bigger picture. If I had that information at 8 or 9 years old, it would have been a one-way ticket to Neverland. I'd have taken my chances with the Pirates. We do grow up though. It's not a process we can opt out of. We do what we have to to accomplish what we want to. Dreams are tailored to fit the reality of the the world around us, the world we wish to change.
If we're lucky, we are either born with or developing the skills we need to affect that change.
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I never thought I'd live in a world where the Mets, Cubs, and Blue Jays are in the running for a World Series at the same time. Meanwhile, my beloved Yankees are watching from home. I'm not okay with this.
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My grandmother's 96th birthday just passes. Am I wrong to hope she can double it?
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