For awhile I didn't feel like an adult. It shocked me when a friend got married or had a baby because that was a grown-up thing to do. Never mind that I had also gotten married and had kids. But then the last couple years, I suddenly got old.

I'm finding myself wondering the clichéd, "What's with kids these days?" and other variations on the theme of recognizing that suddenly I'm no longer part of the "us" and instead part of "those who don't get it."

But I still hold on to some understanding of what it felt like to be young and misunderstood. Many adults have forgotten, and I'm disappointed in how superior they think they are, even when those younger than they are have astute observations or very real fears. When my sons come to me with concerns, I can still remember what it felt like to look through that lens.

Experience has molded me in different ways over the years, and I can definitely laugh at how I've grown, but I also recognize that things that I felt or believed in when young were very important to me, regardless of how trivial they seem now. I also know that when I look back on who I am today, I'll similarly laugh because my older self will believe my younger self had it all wrong.

After all, that's growing up.