Being a Grown Up

When we were young, weren't we all full of dreams? When I was younger I wanted to be a chef because I loved cooking pancakes every morning with my grandma. Then I wanted to be a pastry chef because I thought baking cookies and cakes were more fun and tasty and I was finally "big" enough to use the oven. As I grew I wanted to become a teacher because I loved helping my younger siblings with their homework. Their work was finally easy for me because I was older and wiser than them. When I was younger I thought the older you were, the smarter you were. I thought the older you were, the easier life was because by being older you didn't have so many rules like being too close to the oven because the adults feared you would burn yourself, or having a bedtime when I wanted to stay up and play. When I was younger, I wanted to be a grown up. I wanted to be a grown up because they can drive wherever they want. I wanted to be a grown up because they can buy as many snacks as they want from the store.I wanted to be a grown up because they can do whatever they want because they have it all figured out. I wanted to be a grown up because I thought it was so much easier than being a kid. In the blink of an eye that's exactly what happened. One second we were saying goodbye one last time to our friends in 8th grade. The next second we were scared because we couldn't find our classes on the first day of high school. And now, I am graduating in a few months. Where did all the time go? Now that I am older and able to drive, I am worried about how far I can go because I don't have enough money for gas. Now that I am older I realize we do have food at home because I don't have Mcdonald's money. Now these are the real growing pains. Not the soreness we would get in our legs after playing in the park all day but figuring out how to live in the future. It really drives you crazy getting old. It's painful when you realize you can never go back and the only memories you have of these nostalgic moments live in the back of your mind. But that's the reality. We are all going to grow up. We will reminisce on our younger years, and can only hope that if our past selves saw us now they would be proud to see the "grown up" we've become.