young adult

Suddenly it dawns on you your children have become young adults. Not only young adults but smart, mature, caring and sensitive adults. You can remember the first day of school, the removal of training wheels from the bicycle, the soccer games, their first kiss filled with wonder and awe, and the the time teen age meant trauma, torment and torture. All of those years traveling slower than a snail at rest, now so far behind you leaving you with a your child as a young adult. Suddenly all of the past has led to your child as a young adult.

When I traveled to Pittsburgh last week, I was a guest in my daughters apartment. Dani expected me to spend the three nights of my visit staying at her place. This was my first time having the opportunity to spend the night at her place and witness my  daughter in her own home. My little girl, set up her household, established her routines, recognized her responsibilities and right in front of my eyes for four days and three nights I experienced all of it.

When did this happen, I wondered? When did my baby turn into a young woman? Where have I been when all of these maturity, maturation, milestones meandered into her life? I knew I was getting older but never realized that the movement of time affecting me was indeed finding its path to Dani’s doorsteps?

I turned 63 on October 21 and for some reason,(I have tried to contemplate and consider all the variables)I have become aware of time; however, time as it relates to me. I have great communications with my kids speaking with them very often, so the news of their lives was never a surprise. But somehow while mulling over my own machinations I never realized how time has affected my kids. Time caught up with me as we stood in her kitchen preparing dinner, sat at her table enjoying our dinner, lounged on her sofa, watching zombie movies on her television, riding in her car discussing things from politics to purpose, gossip to goals. We did all this as father to daughter, adult to adult.

I amaze at how even when something is right in front of you, smack dab in the face it is hardly noticed until you walk right in front of it. I am blessed to be a parent, some blessings I am aware of, but so many more I find and never realized existed. My trip to Pittsburgh to celebrate the wondrous 85 years of life of my aunt provided me with gifts. Suddenly, out of the blue so it seems my daughter Dani is this young adult. Life can be so full of mystery and beauty.