ADULTHOOD
I guess this is what it's coming down to. I get older every year. Last year I went off to the big c-word, "COLLEGE", and I'm getting those cute remarks from the older ladies at church, "You're so grown up."
Well today, and probably for today alone, I don't want to grow up. Because growing up means that life not only changes but that it gets harder and more complicated. The signs that I'm growing up are like flashing neon signs on the Vegas Strip. So much is happening so very fast... ands it's all the typical stuff you would expect.
My best friend of 7 years is moving out to Colorado so he can find himself and start over. Sure, we'll talk for the first year or two, maybe make a couple cross country trek, but all of this is just the preliminary stages of becoming "Christmas Card acquaintances". "Oh my, look how much the kids have grown... that picture must be taken up in the Rockies last spring.... What a little picture perfect REI family."
And then theirs the finding out of the deep dark family secrets. The kind of stuff you were curious about in high school and now realize that it puts the Ya-Ya Sisterhood to shame.
Spending time with family is wonderful, but you never realize how good it is and how much you've missed it until you're engrossed by it.
Of course there's the different friends that we now have which can be separated into 3 categories:
Old Friends: They become like family. You rarely get to see them but when you do it's a time of rejoicing and bubbly sparking cider that makes your stomach hurt.
New Friends: They are the ones you now share your deepest heart with. Isn't it amazing that just a few short months at college we can make friends who we spill out the contents of our souls to. They hold us up and gently break us down when we need a firm kick in the pants.
Acquaintances: These are the people who you know and interact with but they could walk out of your life just as easily as they walked in. You enjoy them, they enjoy you, but most of the time you travel in different circles.
The "Missing" Friends: These are the people who you loved and adored for years who finally got tired of being suppressed by their parents, the church, and even you. They've, "chosen a different path" as some might say.... "They'll come around eventually". Sure, they might, but that's a whole lot of stuff to deal with between then and now. Ten years from now you might bump into one of them and truly realize how different you have become. That at one time you were "kindred spirits" and now has become "kindred strangers".
Of course there are some enjoyable things about realizing you're an adult. Like the satisfaction you have when you get off the phone with the insurance company and have resolved your plan so a $130 dollar doctors visit for a Malaria Prophylaxis prescription is now yours for the low cost of a $15 dollar CO-Pay.
Goodness gracious, this is the beginning isn't it? A life of financial planning, the management of your responsibilities and privileges, and most importantly learning to keep the Lord Jesus Christ as the God-Head of your heart. I guess that's the key to the "Good Life"
"Trust and Obey, for there's no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey."
Sar | 
