My View of Adulthood

As a child, I thought there were three kinds of adults. The bad kind (the sort of bad grown-ups that went to prison for stealing and stuff like that), the good kind (like the Wal-Mart sticker greeters and other adults that I didn't know) and the really good kind (like my parents and their friends). I knew without a shadow of a doubt that the really good kind of adult never did wrong. If they were angry it was justly over someone else's wrong. They were completely selfless, always knew the right answer and never failed to punish me when I'd done something wrong.

Imagine my shock when I grew older and realized that there were many more wrong things that could be done than the ones I knew. There were lots of things you could do even accidentally that would make other people hurt or angry with you. The subtleties of manipulation, insults and exclusion that I began to understand were mind-blowing; almost as much as the fact that "really good" adults actually committed these wrongs. Now, as a young teenager growing toward adulthood, my view of adults had changed. I was planning on becoming the "really good" kind of adult that never did anything wrong; now that kind of adult doesn't exist. Suddenly, adulthood wasn't an arrival where you instantaneously become the kind of adult you were raised to be, but merely an extension of childhood where you are bigger and more grown-up, but still struggle with doing wrong. Eventually, you are no longer under your parents authority and are responsible for making yourself do right... and if you should happen to do something really wrong, then the police would put you in jail.

Even at 19, some of my childhood ideals are still being crushed by the pettiness of most of the adults in this world; yes, even the ones that my childhood self would have considered "really good." But all this only serves to remind me that God is the fulfillment of all my ideals of the perfect "adult." In childhood, your parent serves as the "all-knowing" governing authority; in adulthood, God is the one who reminds you to apologize for your wrongs, and loves you as His child, even through all your disobedience and childish tantrums.

NCHE Convention and Graduation... AND Sarah's birthday!

Wow, what a weekend! We had a great time.

This is our lovely hotel room at the Brookstown Inn. It is a renovated cotton mill from the 1800's. Our room was very spacious, clean and homey, and really really comfortable. I love the wood beams in the ceiling and the old brick walls. Many people at the conference like to stay at the hotels right at the conference building. Those hotels are harder to get though, and we don't mind the 4-5 block walk to the convention center. And personally, I enjoy the rustic simplicity and cheerful southern comfort feel of our favorite hotel much better than the new, plastic, cookie-cutter large-corporation feel of most hotels.

Sarah and I experienced swing dancing for the first time at the Teen Cotillion the evening of the first conference day. It was a LOT of fun! None of the speaker sessions were mind-blowing fantastic, but they did give me some things to think about and some mild inspiration.

Mainly I was blessed to have the theme of all the sessions serve to give me more confidence in my choice to pursue my interests at home, and outside the corporate realm of college. The speakers for teens emphasized living your life for God, and that the important thing isn't whether you make a lot of money or not, but that you do everything for the glory of God.

The graduation Saturday was nice. I was wavering on whether or not I wanted to do it, because it just seems so pointless, but I finally decided that the opportunity for regret was less if I just went ahead and did the graduation. If I hated it, I would get over it, but if I later began to regret not doing it, then I could possibly feel regret for the rest of my life. I'm very glad I decided to go through with it, because I really enjoyed it, and it was a decided end to high school. I'm finished!!

My graduation happened to be exactly on Sarah's birthday, so afterward, we went out to eat. Sarah and I both wanted to go to the Mellow Mushroom, and there was one right across the street. We walked down there, and discovered that there was a two HOUR wait for our party of 14. This was at 6pm. So we decided with the M's and B's, that since we were all packed up and checked out of our hotels already, that we would drive to Greensboro and eat at the Mellow Mushroom there, since it was on the way home. In Greensboro there was a 30 minute wait, but we lost the B's; they got a little lost and ended up at a Mellow Mushroom in Burlington. They called to tell us to go ahead and eat without them, and that they would just eat there and compare food with us, but we decided to drive on to Burlington and eat with them. So finally, we all ate. At 8:30pm. It was really fun, the perfect end to a great weekend.