Article II:

Enjoy youth while you can, after all there is only growing older and getting more responsibility, enjoy the good times while they last.

I woke up the other morning to a weird realization; somehow I had become an adult.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think I have reached my full maturity level. A mature person probably wouldn’t laugh at people falling down on the Internet. I just realized that I will be graduating soon and will have to find a job.
It seems just like yesterday I was heading off to kindergarten with my Hulk Hogan book bag. Life was simpler back then, it revolved around Ninja Turtles, Sportscenter and baseball cards. Well, come to think of it, I guess some things don’t really change.

Adults always told me take advantage of being young because before you know it you will be old. That statement couldn’t be truer, some mornings I wake up feeling like I am 21 going on 40. I also now realize that I am going to turn out like every older man I know. I am actually going to like to mow the grass, my ideal Saturday will be a trip to Lowe’s and I will get excited about buying snow plows and other expensive gadgets that I find useless today.

My grave is half dug when it comes to being an older person. I used to like to play sports that young people like, such as football and basketball. Now I am obsessed with “older men” sports like bowling and slow-pitch softball. I am slowly slipping into adulthood.

I remember when I was a kid I couldn’t wait to grow up. Everything adults were doing seemed like more fun than what I was doing. All I could think about was when I grow up I will get to do all the fun things that I saw adults doing. I failed to realize that it really isn’t fun growing up.

My advice to younger people is to slow down and be a kid for a while. Looking back I can’t believe that I am now a senior in college, it seems I was just a senior in high school. I wouldn’t of traded my childhood for anything in the world, I am just wondering how I got to this point this fast.

The older a person gets the more responsibility a person has to bear. Being responsible is the biggest part of being an adult. The less responsible a person is the less they are taken serious. If I plan on getting a job or be looked at as a responsible adult I will have to continue being responsible.

So from here on out I am going to live life to the fullest. I am going to try and take full advantage of the little time I have left as being a youth. Because tomorrow I could wake up with kids and a mortgage.

By Greg Avey
Griffon News, 19 Feb 2008, p. 3