What does it mean to grow up?
How do you define growning up?
Young minded, blind even, eyes open to every possibility.
Curious, ignorant, maybe even a little naive.
Her whole life ahead of her, and she doesn’t even know it yet.

Fast forward to when she’s no longer ignorant or naive,
She’s still a bit curious you see.
Still young minded but a little more intelligent.
She’s learned what the world offers, how it functions in all.
She learns quickly that the world isn’t fair, the difference between right and wrong, just and untrue.
She starts to understand that growing up isn’t going to be as easy as she thought.

Growing up ISN’T as clear as it once was.
Growing up ISN’T black and white.
Growing up ISN’T  just questioning and decision making.
But do you know what growing up is?

Growing up IS hard.
Growing up IS that grey area.
Growing up IS navigating blindly.
Growing up IS just winging it and hoping for the best.

But everyone is different.
Not one singular human being has the same experience growing up.

She didn’t realize she HAD grown up.
She hadn’t realize when she sat at her eighth grade graduation.
She hadn’t realized during her first day of high school.
She hadn’t realized at her older brothers high school graduation.
She hadn’t  realized when her younger sister started middle school.
And she still hadn’t realize during the first day of her senior year.

When did she realize?
She realized when she got her first college acceptance letter.
Then her second, third, and fourth.
She read each one over and over the week she received them.
She finally could grasp the reality that she had grown up.
She’s already a young adult, and soon she’s going to be an adult.
She grew up without even realizing it.

The one sign that made it one hundred percent clear were those letters.
Those letters signified more than just the next step in her long journey that is growing up.

The long journey of life.

They signified acceptance,responsibility, realization, hopes, dreams, and so much more.

She grew up. She succeeded. And she’ll continue to thrive.