Grown-Ups

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about growing up.  Not the process, but the lives that we live now as grown-ups.  We're adults now.  We pay rent, drive cars that we paid for, have life insurance policies.  Crazy. 

But what amazes me even more, is what we do as adults.  I have friends and people who I went to high school with that are doing some amazing things.  Their educations vary widely.  They have degrees in foreign languages, politics, education, and social work.  You name it, one of them has it.  Some are pursuing Master's degrees and PhD's in things that I know NOTHING about.  Some have already finished their PhD work.  They work with the homeless, live in foreign countries (by themselves!), have beautiful, happy children, save lives and fight fires, teach children here in the U.S. and abroad, fly airplanes (some even OWN airplanes), serve their country, manage businesses, and just generally inspire me.

Thanks to the invention of Facebook, I am still somewhat in touch with the lives of most of the people I went to kindergarten and elementary school with.  These are people that I've grown up with and have known since our biggest worry was what game to play at recess (and trust me, there were some serious debates).  I've known them for almost their entire lives, and yet they take paths that I never would have imagined for them.  When we were younger, I never would have thought to ask "What do you want to do with your life?"  Even though I've known them for so long, the paths they have taken to find their happiness still surprise me.  And I don't mean in a bad way, just that for some of them, I never would have guessed that they would find their happiness in what they chose to pursue.  And for others, they are pursuing goals that they seemed destined for since birth.  (This isn't meant to serve as a judgement... just an observation.)

Either way, I'm proud of them.  I'm proud of all of us for the adults we have become and all of the good we will continue to do.  We might be just getting our feet on the ground, but the world had better watch out for us.