Grown-Up<\/big> (groan’-uhp) n. – a very snobbish term used by children to indicate a person who has achieved adulthood<\/i><\/p>\n

Snobbish? Why? Why does the word “grown-up” sound almost mocking?<\/p>\n

Because, well, it is. Children look at adults who have gotten older, and some they respect, and some they fear. What is the difference?<\/p>\n

For the most part, once a child gets to know the adults in their life, neither respect nor fear derives from a physical standpoint. Strength, or size, or facial expressions, or baldness, or beardness…none of it has to do with how a child relates to the adult. It has to do with the wisdom, sensibility, love, and respect the adult has for that same child.<\/p>\n

Also, the way an adult interacts with the child comes into play. When an adult can get down to the kid’s level, speak with them one-on-one like a best buddy, and understand them the way they need to be understood, the child will respect that person like no one else.<\/p>\n

– – –<\/p>\n

All this babble is to bring a point across. What I’m trying to say is:<\/p>\n

\n
• I don’t want to be some stuffy old guy with no sense of humor who hates kids<\/li>\n
• I don’t want to be some meek, mellow guy who won’t say anything, ever<\/li>\n
• And I certainly don’t want to be the boring droner who can’t get over the “good ol’ days.”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

  But, when it comes to getting older, and becoming an adult, these are<\/i> my goals:<\/p>\n

  \n
  • Wear outdated clothing and argue that it compliments my looks.<\/li>\n
  • Be “That Uncle” who everyone apparently wants dead broke.<\/li>\n
  • Walk around with a pocket dedicated solely to pop tarts.<\/li>\n
  • Be able (and willing) to cut a jig at whatever dance party I happen to crash.<\/li>\n
  • Never give up on anybody. Even a dead guy.<\/li>\n
  • Grow a horrendous mustache and claim to be Ulysses S. Grant’s descendant.<\/li>\n
  • Ride a unicycle. AND roller skates. At the same time.<\/li>\n
  • Capture every beautiful moment through some medium of media.<\/li>\n
  • Prove it’s possible to only brush once a day and still keep all your teeth.<\/li>\n
  • Regularly break my hip falling out of trees.<\/li>\n
  • misple werds an not fell bad bowt it.<\/li>\n
  • Prove God exists by my attitude alone.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Maybe that’s a lot to aim for. But there’s a lot of years for resolutions, and even more days in those years to randomly pick up a party trick and learn it. How often do we teach ourselves things we really want to know, anyway?<\/p>\n

    Probably not enough. Maybe I should take that rain check on growing up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Grown-Up (groan’-uhp) n. – a very snobbish term used by children to indicate a person who has achieved adulthood<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[908],"tags":[79,360,376,378,519,630,886],"class_list":["post-876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-journal","tag-beard","tag-goals","tag-growing","tag-grown-up","tag-maturity","tag-plan","tag-wisdom"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n