I’m a Big Girl Now

I would fain grow old learning many things. – Plato

I won’t grow up. – Disney’s version of J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan

I love Sarah Bunting. I further love Tomato Nation. And I think I love her latest column more than anything of hers.

Read it.

No. Don’t just pop it open and decide to skim and only read the boldface because you think it’s too long. Really read it. It’s two pages. And I wholeheartedly agree with every last word on them, and I wish I could send them to everyone within ten years of my age, because I think we all need the reminders.

Because none of this is to say that I am not ever guilty of any of the immaturities she rails against – far from it, sadly. But I desparately, completely believe in her main point, which is (to take the liberty of paraphrasing) that growing up doesn’t mean getting boring – it means gaining the ability to be a functioning adult.

This also doesn’t mean it’s wrong to have a crisis. It happens. I am a firm believer in the quarter-life crisis. President and also a client. Preaching to the choir. Etc.

But this is different. It’s okay not to know what you want out of life. It’s also okay not to act like a grown-up all the time.

But – and this is important – you do have to know how to be an adult.

It’s like when you had to stop waiting for your parents to carry you in from the car after long car trips. That was awful nice there while you had it. But at some point you just get too big for it.

Deliberate immaturity? Fun immaturity? A necessity of life.

Petulant “you can’t make me” immaturity? Inadvertent “I didn’t know any better” immaturity? Unflattering at best.

It’s a really good read.