Growing up

So many things in my life have become more real with age. Ten years ago they were nonentities that grownups spoke of but sadly today they have become regular “have to be dealt withs” in my life. I am not talking about the sad truth that there is no Father Christmas or the realisation that it was mum putting coins under my pillow and taking my teeth and not some mysterious tooth fairy. I am talking about real issues of life…

1.       Relationships

It used to be enough that the Mr was tall, dark and handsome, that he made me laugh and got on well with my friends. Today, four years later there is so much more to consider finances, religions, families, hereditary diseases, need I say more…

I have a host of other REAL things that I am required to think about and weigh, ponder over and turn inside out and outside in.

Relationships were so much less taxing on the brain five years ago than they are now.

2.       Death

Once upon a time funerals were events our parents went to, we just needed to be told who had died. More often than not our presence wasn’t even required at funerals.Now death is so real it could literally be behind the corner. It could be anyone; a parent, a close friend, a distant relative. An because we have been around for more years, people have become more valuable, the number of memories we share have increased.

Today not only is your presence required at funerals but your emotions are too. Voluntarily or involuntarily we have become participants and spectators of death and funerals alike.

No longer is death an abstract occurrence that has no bearing on our existence.

3.       HIV/ AIDS

The only way I can explain this is by sharing a very personal story with you. A year ago Goikan definitely not her real name) shared her HIV status with me. I can’t remember the exact date but I remember that she told me the news over the phone while I was seated on my bed wearing a green jacket.  Only at that moment did HIV became real in my life. Of course I had lost relatives to the virus and knew about it and what it could do and how, but something about knowing that Goikan a beautiful 24 year old girl was HIV positive made it all hit home. And it was certainly no easy blow.

Ohh HIV, though art a scrooge

4.       The need for money

I need money every month. Previously I only wanted money. I wanted money to get my hair done, I wanted money to buy lunch, I wanted money for credit for my phone.

Now I NEED money. I need money to pay rent and fill up the tank, I need money to pay bills and buy groceries. I need a growing supply of money from month to month.

5.       Married

This post sums it up to a T

Growing pains