Susanna

This photo was taken from Flickr.com

When does a person really grow up? Does it happen when they graduate high school? College? When they get married or start a family? Life seems to be a steamless cycle that never faulters, but always continues to change.

Today in the grocery store, I overheard a very upbeat, elderly lady say, "When I grow up, I want to write a book." Her husband then jokingly asked her what her book would be about and she answered "Well, they say a writer should write about the things they know. I have the rest of my life to learn as much as possible."

As I was walking away from Susanna (she looked like a "Susanna"), I thought about what she said. We all have the rest of our lives to learn as much as possible. All my life I have associated learning with what we learn in school, but I always forget that people learn all the time and in all stages of life. I could know more than Susanna from Publix... Everyone is a student in their own class in the world. Something can affect one person completely differently than it would affect someone else. For example, the invention of the toaster oven has completely changed my life. I love toast and all the different ways that it can be prepared. Someone. other than me, does not appreciate toast and all it's wonders. But they have time to learn all about it. I hope Susanna writes a book about toast. I would be thoroughly impressed if anyone could write an entire book about toast, espceially a 72-year-old Publix shopper.

So. for most of my recent thoughts on life and growing up, blah, blah, blah... I blame IKEA. I fall in love everytime I step foot in that store. I picture myself cooking eggs in the colorful kitchens, tucking in my kids in their bunk beds with unquie furniture all around them. I picture falling asleep in the wonderfully comfortable beds they have and having a modern office with supplies in little containers all around the room. It's exhausting. I am twenty years old. I do not need to be thinking about my future house and what color silver I want for the faucet of my kitchen sink.

But on the flip side, thinking about all that stuff really helps evaluate your current situation. Whenever I am flagging patio furniture or taking mental pictures of the curtains I want in my laundry room, I always feel motivated to work harder. It makes me want to go home and organize my life.

But when should a person settle with everything they have? Should we always just be grateful for what we have? After all your standards are met, what are you supposed to do then? What do you have to look forward to? Does that mean that you are officically grown up to the person you always wanted to be?