All grown up

When I turned 21, I thought I was all adult because I was, afterall, the legal age. But I was still partying my life away, damaging my liver and body and being in uni still just doesn't seem quite adult-like.

Then I graduated and very quickly (within a month thankyouverymuch) found a job. I thought then, that I was all adult because I took on the responsibility (as it should be) of paying my bills and even contributing a mini portion of my salary to my parents. But I still continued to party my life away, damaging my liver and body, and looking back it pretty much seemed that I'd gained financial independance, rather than becoming an adult.

Over the years, I found myself a very nice, kind, reliable young chap who became the husband. I is very lucky. Becoming a wife, I definitely was more adult-like. Afterall, I moved house to live with the husband (that's rather significant) and I took on more commitments together with the husband too. We became an independant unit with each other, travelling together, eating together, playing together, saving together, just like how everyone else on the streets seem to do it.

Then we had a baby. That changed our lives obviously, and in the past months, we'd encountered two occasions where we made good parent-decisions.

Scenario 1
We were out for dinner with friends, and we'd adjourned to a nearby cafe for dessert.The cafe was packed and we had to wait for a table despite having made reservations. After standing around for 10mins, Kate was fussing and a quick look at the watch alerted us that it's past 10. A quick calculation in my head tells me that it'd be at least another hour by the time we got our table, ordered our desserts and ate them. I looked to the husband and said, " we may as well go. As much as I wish to stay to thicken my waist with these mouth-watering cakes, it's not good for Kate's sleeping schedule." So we left. (Our reward was a complimentary dessert *yay)

Scenario 2
It was NYE and the husband and I had brought Kate out to a dinner. We usually wouldn't but it being NYE and all, I felt like it'd be sweeter to be together as a family. We'd been invited to usher in the New Year with friends and we'd decided to drop by after our dinner. By the time dinner ended, it was nearly 11pm and enroute to the car, the husband asked if we were still going to the countdown party. My response then was "it's up to you", I then heard the husband call our friend and apologised that we're not able to join them. We headed home.
I was pleased with his decision because it was just better for Kate.

I'm sure there'll continue to be many more situations that arise which will test us. But I'm confident that with the husband, we'll make decisions to our best capability.

Growing up is not marked by an age, or one particular event in life. It is a series of challenges, events and people around you that influence your growth. For me, the husband and the baby are definitely key reasons why I'm all 'grown up' now. We consciously weigh the pros and cons of doing things, manage time more carefully and the decisions we make are not for ourselves but for Kate. I marvel at how far I've come all these years.