Thursday, July 22, 2010

21 going on 12


In high school, I did some baby-sitting just like most girls do. I remember one particular horror story that I will never forget. I was at the beach and a family friend asked me to watch her children at the pool for a few hours. No problem. Well, it was a 9 year-old-girl, a 7 year-old-boy and a 2 year-old-girl. Sounds like a handful, right? Well, to make it even better, the 2 year old (who obviously can't swim) didn't have any floaties with her, so I literally had to hold her the entire time. She was absolutely convinced that she could swim and she didn't WANT me to hold her. She kicked, screamed, hit, yelled, anything she could do to get me to let her swim. Well, as the person in charge, I knew if I put her down, she would drown. Needless to say, it was a very long afternoon. She thought I was being mean by not letting her swim on her own, but I was simply protecting her! That was my job, to watch the children, make sure they didn't drown!

Lately I've been realizing that we never grow out of that. A 2 year old thinks they can swim, a 16 year old thinks they rule the world, and a 21 year old thinks they are an adult. I have two brothers and we are all at different and interesting ages. My older bro is 22 and my younger bro is 17, leaving me in the middle at 21. Even though my oldest bro is only a year and a half older than me, I always thought he was sooo cool and mature (yeah, right.) I always thought, in a year when I am that age, I will be grown up too! But the older I've gotten, I've yet to feel "cool" and "mature". My younger brother provides a lot of entertainment because as a 17 year old between high school and college he obviously thinks he's grown up and invincible. I know that I know better than he does, but he thinks he knows everything, and there's no telling him otherwise!

You know how it goes, you think you know everything, and your parents laugh at you. The older you get, the more you realize that your parents, in fact, aren't crazy and that they actually DO know what they are talking about. (I hate that I'm admitting this.) I think the older you get, the more you realize you know nothing and have nothing figured out.

I thought at 21 I'd be all grown up and have it all figure out. HA! Nothing could be further from the truth. I don't have all the answers, I'm still making mistakes, I'm still figuring things out. But I keep having to remind myself that it is OK to not know everything, and it's always OK to ask for help along the way. No one can get through life alone, that's why God gave us a family. No matter what you do, they will always be there for you, and even when you don't think so, they might be able to help you along the way.

I don't think I'll ever have all the answers, I'll always be a 2 year old girl trying to swim when I can't, but I know that I have people in my life to stop me from drowning. So I'd say I'm doing just fine.

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