Being a grown-up isn't all I thought it was going to be.
I can eat chocolate for every meal. I can stay up as late as I want. I can walk into a liquor store with my head held high and buy anything on the shelves. I can wear whatever I want to and it doesn't have to match. I can put posters of Shaun Cassidy all over the walls.
Except I can't. I mean, I can--but there are consequences. Ew, that's such a dirty word. But it's what keeps (most) grown adults from staying up all night in their Shaun-Cassidy-papered bedrooms drinking Mad Dog and eating chocolate ice cream for dinner, while wearing tube tops and leg warmers. And aren't we thankful for that?
This morning, I was contemplating the pros and cons to being a grown-up, while I was thinking about all the things and people I needed to pray for--a prayer that usually goes much like author Anne Lamott's two most common prayers: Thank you, thank you, thank you, and Help me, help me, help me. Except I would throw in a third--Help them, help them, help them.
All the stuff that our parents shelter us from as kids becomes reality as we shift into adulthood. Today I'm praying for friends with new jobs, and novels they are giving their hearts and souls to, and who are going back to school to find their passions. For new babies, and babies yet unborn. For cancer that is in remission, for cancer that may not be in remission, for the thing that could be cancer but we have our fingers and toes crossed that it isn't. For moving away from friends and family, for moving to the unknown.
What happened to the joy of eating chocolate for every meal? It sneaks up on you, this grown-up stuff. It isn't always fun--but it's meaningful. Once that Hershey bar is gone, it's gone--except for the part where it shows up on your hips about 30 seconds later. But all of these friendships, and relationship crises, and jubilant celebrations--getting to pray for these things is a blessing no matter what the outcome.
It means I'm not alone on this journey, in my tube top and leg warmers. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
