I'll Take Adulthood

Some people dearly miss their childhood. On one or two levels I can understand why they might, but mostly? Any day I'll take adulthood.

You might laugh, but there are still times, even at 47, when it's evening and while watching tv, it hits me, "Just think! I can stay up as late as I want. Heck, I can stay awake all night if I feel like it." No one will gasp, "Debra Lynn! You should have been asleep hours ago!"

Or other times while standing in a supermarket aisle, I'll consider, "How nice that I don't have to ask permission to buy a certain kind of cereal."

It's wonderful that Tom and I can drive wherever we want and stay out really late. We have no curfew and no parents waiting, worrying, ready to ask, "Just where have you been?"

Tom and I can make our own choices, and if our parents disagree with those choices, we can choose them anyway (hopefully, our plans being ones God initiated).

We live in our own house, can do what we want to inside it, and can decorate the whole thing however we wish. No one will step through the door and tell us to take something down from the wall because it's not appropriate.

We can play whatever kind of music we want within our house, too. No one will say, "Turn down that awful noise up there!" (well, as long as it's not booming out from our windows, quaking the neighbors' houses). We can watch any movies and read any books we wish (again, hopefully at God's discretion).

We can choose our own friends. No person ever takes us aside and whispers, "I wish you wouldn't hang around with ________." (Though in a couple cases, God has advised us to let go of friends who were negatively affecting our relationship with Him.)

And the amazing thing is that I can be an adult and still be creative and child-like at heart. I can still paint pictures, jump rope, have slumber parties, tea parties, still go camping, ride bikes, skip and climb and play games in parks.

What I'm saying is that I love the freedom of adulthood. I'd never return to the confines of childhood (which, no matter how idyllic your childhood, you would find hard to live under, admit it). And yes, there are people I miss from so long ago, yet when I am open to new folks and new friends, it's amazing the dear, similarly-hearted souls God plucks out of the crowds to present to me.

And while living freely in this Land of Adulthood, I have discovered here that God is the perfect Parent for the parent. Just what we need to guide us and to make Life even sweeter,yes, for us as adults.


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