Adulting

Adulting is hard.

When I was younger I looked forward to being an adult more than anyone around me. It wasn't for the obvious reason either, I was excited to balance my check book, cook my own food, and get a really cool job. Admittedly I was a bit of a strange kid. Even though most kids didn't look forward to those things most of us couldn't wait for the freedom of being an adult.

In the past few years I have realized I will never be as free as I was as a kid. As an adult figuring out a budget, buying food and then cooking it, and realizing no job is as cool as I thought they would be when I was a kid, I gained a whole new respect for my parents. I am currently just taking care of myself and I feel overwhelmed. I can't imagine taking care of 2 kids, as well. My parents were magic I am convinced, taking care of all of my brother and my needs on one paycheck.

I am amazed that my mother continued to feed me after I even once complained about what she made for dinner. I currently rotate on about 3 meals and I expected her to have a different meal every night and for it to be ready the instant I wanted it. If I had been in her position I would have fed us a lot more cereal and made us go to bed without supper when we complained.

I find myself even more grateful that my parents continued to go to their jobs. When I was a kid I assumed that everyone loved the things they do. I couldn't even imagine that someone would do something over and over again everyday if they didn't love it. Now I know my dad didn't have a fun job, he didn't have an easy job, but he kept going so that we could continue to have food and shelter.

Maybe I am forgetting any bad points in my childhood, but I don't think so. I remember times when things were leaner, but my brother and I never went without the things we needed and we never felt unloved. So now with perspective I offer my thanks to parents everywhere who made things work even though life is hard. Especially thanks to my own parents who managed to raise to fairly normal kids.