Growing.

I remember a story called "Growing up" by Joyce Carry, if you have read it. It speaks of a father returning back to his family from work. Robert Quick, in his 50's, realizes that growing up is a phase that not only his teenage daughters have to go through, but also himself.

Growing is not a phase of life, rather it is the whole life itself. When a baby is born, it learns to cry,  to smile, to know its surroundings, to walk, to eat and many things. When they become toddlers, we send them to school, so that we can teach them how to lead life, like coping various emotional, social, educational and philosophical variations of life. It's very wrong for nowadays parents to interpret schooling is only education. It is education yes, but about life.

Then when they complete their education, they have to learn to live by themselves. Learning to be self independent includes getting a job to meet his/her financial needs, to may be marry someone to meet his emotional needs and many other things also like a social needs, etc. Learning to be self independent also includes coping with his/her own emotional status, and the need to carry on with life, heads held high. Even when we retire from our jobs we cannot stop growing. You cannot say no to it. We do not only grow with age, we also grow and develop from our minds. Learning to forgive and accept, learning to be courageous in difficult situations, learning to love others, learning to teach others,  learning to smile and make others smile... are all parts of learning - they are all parts of Growing up.

Sometimes, it takes ages to grow, and sometimes just a second.