Being An Adult

I have always thought that grandparents were the icons of wisdom, the "go to" person with he answers, the epitome of patience.

When I was young, I often thought, "When I grow up, I want to be like Grandpa". I looked forward with anxious anticipation to the time when I would have all the answers and all the sage advice.

All of our parents are gone, now, and I have discovered, as I suppose they discovered, that all I have really done is gotten older.

I have learned that being a wise parent and grandparent is not so much what I know, but what I do. And the greatest truth I have learned is that one does not need to grow old to grow wise. The reality is that everyone grows older. What matters is what we keep and/or lose in the process.

We need to keep a sense of humor, but lose the mindless silliness of adolescence. We need to somehow keep our internal youthfulness but lose the irresponsibleness of adolescence. We need to retain our integrity while acknowledging the reality of shades of truth. We must struggle to maintain our health without the obsession of the fitness of youth. We need to encourage sympathy and empathy, while shunning the devastation of "attitude". We learn to put aside the "me first" approach in favor of a sincere desire to share beyond ourselves and out families.

Being an adult simply means that we now know what we should be doing and we move ahead without supervision and do it, even when we really may not feel much like doing it at the time. And so it is and should be in all aspects and areas of our life.

Bob Curtis has been writing articles, short fiction, and poetry for over 30 years. He has been a lay consultant for families and individuals for a number of years. He is currently the managing director of people4people.blogspot.com and is the president of Nexus Publishing, nexus4u.blogspot.com, in Midvale, Utah.

In The News:
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table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2008/11/22/inspirational-school-sports-hall-gets-the-go-ahead-64375-22315166/cid=0ei=B3kpSeWSBJSA7QOo9oVDusg=AFQjCNFP4B3T5FIT4ylyOvtyKcmJnNBy4Q‘bInspirational/b’ school sports hall gets the go-ahead/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fLiverpool Daily Post,nbsp;UKnbsp;-/font nobrNov 21, 2008/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1MERCHANT Taylors’ School in Crosby will soon boast an “binspirational/b, light, bright and welcoming” new sports hall, after Sefton Council granted planning b.../b/font/div/font/td/tr/table
table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd width=80 align=center valign=topfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifa href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1088576/Inspirational-cancer-sufferer-raised-1-75m-charity-left-just-19-000-will.htmlcid=1273444680ei=B3kpSeWSBJSA7QOo9oVDusg=AFQjCNF6fU3XptDn0yT3VwSuQeZKV1q9GQimg src=http://news.google.com/news?imgefp=v2DqpVn1wbkJimgurl=i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/11/22/article-1088576-0098B41D000004B0-369_468x286.jpg width=80 height=49 alt= border=1brfont size=-2Daily Mail/font/a/font/tdtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1088576/Inspirational-cancer-sufferer-raised-1-75m-charity-left-just-19-000-will.htmlcid=1273444680ei=B3kpSeWSBJSA7QOo9oVDusg=AFQjCNF6fU3XptDn0yT3VwSuQeZKV1q9GQbInspirational/b cancer sufferer who raised £1.75m for charity left b.../b/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fDaily Mail,nbsp;UKnbsp;-/font nobr17 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1By Mail On Sunday Reporter Most of the money goes to her husband Mike, with future earnings from her two books going to her children Suzanne, 22, Rebecca, b.../b/font/div/font/td/tr/table
table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/111-11232008-1626401.htmlcid=0ei=B3kpSeWSBJSA7QOo9oVDusg=AFQjCNErJrZxl3i5lTJV3FLAoUyykKOgZgGot a story to tell?/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fphillyBurbs.com,nbsp;PAnbsp;-/font nobr23 minutes ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1But do you have a great story, an binspirational/b story, a hilarious, bizarre or unbelievable story? The kind of story that, when you tell your friends, b.../b/font/div/font/td/tr/table
table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd width=80 align=center valign=topfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifa href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-11-05-voa68.cfmcid=1267202318ei=B3kpSeWSBJSA7QOo9oVDusg=AFQjCNGyNI5Db-vIDWZ3xPdBmjXTsoUC6Aimg src=http://news.google.com/news?imgefp=PLNdundxzegJimgurl=www.voanews.com/english/images/AP_Rice_on_Obama_05NOV08.jpg width=77 height=80 alt= border=1brfont size=-2Voice of America/font/a/font/tdtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gEZDGk7Pl-oafbXDJAF1GY2yZU6gcid=1267202318ei=B3kpSeWSBJSA7QOo9oVDusg=AFQjCNHMYzE3zHKx5oUzyecdygCoDzjQ1AAs proud African American, Rice calls Obama #39;binspirational/b#39;/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fAFPnbsp;-/font nobrNov 5, 2008/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1WASHINGTON (AFP) — US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday called President-elect Barack Obama quot;binspirational/b,quot; saying his election marked quot;an b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DbtFoHq6ttOAcid=1267202318ei=B3kpSeWSBJSA7QOo9oVDusg=AFQjCNFZXLigvG9e6s-Wz4iEzYzABeP5agVideo: Rice Congratulates Obama on Victory/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrAssociatedPress/nobr/fontobject width=448 height=356param name=movie value=http://www.youtube.com/v/btFoHq6ttOA/paramparam name=wmode value=transparent/paramembed src=http://www.youtube.com/v/btFoHq6ttOAtype=application/x-shockwave-flashwmode=transparentwidth=448height=356/embed/objectbr/fontfont size=-1a href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/Redir.aspx%3FID%3D90eba6fb-233b-4484-9009-bcf858354e7bcid=1267202318ei=B3kpSeWSBJSA7QOo9oVDusg=AFQjCNH0xcwD-ue1mG7_kKryeFXWWVMogwRice calls Obama quot;binspirational/bquot;, promises smooth transition/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrHindustan Times/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24610104-12377,00.htmlcid=1267202318ei=B3kpSeWSBJSA7QOo9oVDusg=AFQjCNGtkFHPegsqFal4xOyQ_fAE9HpZDwRice hails #39;binspirational/b#39; Obama/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrThe Australian/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1 class=pa href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/11/05/america/NA-US-Elections-Rice.phpcid=1267202318ei=B3kpSeWSBJSA7QOo9oVDusg=AFQjCNFzx9_zSpddS0gRiYD1pgFWNmh3JQnobrInternational Herald Tribune/nobr/anbsp;- a href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.radionetherlands.nl/news/international/6040429/Bush-praises-Obama-win-pledges-smooth-handovercid=1267202318ei=B3kpSeWSBJSA7QOo9oVDusg=AFQjCNGoFCbPLCbNvBTQ_NHs8YFlv-vAEAnobrRadio Netherlands/nobr/a/fontbr/font class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1267202318hl=ennobrall 321 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table
inspirational - Google News


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