Growing Pains

The other day someone asked me how old I was and I can't believe that the first thought that popped into my head was 17. I am closer to a decade above that number but for some reason, it has a hard time sinking in. That set another chain of thoughts in motion and suddenly I realized that I am an adult. For lack of a better term I am now, "All grown up." I have a wife, a child, A few weeks ago I finished my B.S., I have a profession instead of a job, and I am loosing my hair much earlier than any man should.

It's not like all of these events happened in one day, it took many years for all of this to happen. In fact I know that I have had these thoughts before, at the culmination of certain events,( My son's birth was a big one) but I guess that now that all of these things have come together, it sinks in a little deeper. After contemplating all this I am not scared, I am rather excited. I love my little family and it is so exciting to be involved in raising a child. I have wonderful friends, the best of which I am married to. I stand now at the beginning of a career and a grand adventure awaits me. Life is going to happen, but I plan to enjoy it along the way. I am sure that time will go by fast as it already has, but talk to anyone on the downhill side of life and they have great memories. So here is to being a kid at heart, and in the immortal words of Captain Jack Sparrow, "bring me that horizon!".

Might as well face it, I'm addicted to crud...

I have what I like to call an addictive personality. What I mean by this is that I am easily attracted to new things and then I go crazy with them for a short period of time. Some examples... My friend took me Rock Climbing a couple of years ago and that very day I stopped on the way home and bought myself a harness and over that summer I collected all of my own gear. That same friend took me Mountain Biking and soon I had to have all the fancy gear and attachments for my bicycle. We went boating and now all I can think of are boats, and what kind would be good to buy, etc. If I find a book that I am interested in I cannot put it down. I will stay up late, and basically ignore the world around me while I read. It's not just because I am enjoying the story but I feel a pressing need to actually just finish the book. It's weird but I can't explain it.

This last example has recently been driving my poor wife crazy, as the last few days I have been immersed in a good novel. Most of these things are harmless and either only cost money or time. It makes me wonder though what would my life had been like if I hadn't been raised in a religion that preaches abstinence from drugs and alcohol. Given the previous examples, I would be one mess of a person. I would be that guy dressed in the military fatigues with the greasy hair, missing teeth and whom you could smell a mile away, and tried to ignore as you saw me. Possibly I am exaggerating, but who knows.. I am just lucky to be me and have a wonderful little family and a good life. I just need to curb some of my enthusiasms.