Isn't it funny the way time works out? When we are young children, all we want to do are the things the older kids are doing. We want to play their big kid games, have their big kid electronics and gadgets and we want to know what they are talking about. When we become the older kids all we want is to be grown ups. We want to do what they're doing. We want jobs and we want money. We want to have their wisdom and their knowledge. How many times during your childhood years do you remember hearing someone say to you "I'll tell you when you're older." I swore every time I heard those words I told myself I was going to remember everything that was ever said to me, so someday I could look back and ask what everything meant. Unfortunately, that never happened. However, the simple fact of the matter is we spend our whole lives wishing to be adults, but once we become one we miss our adolescence.

Growing up is one of the most difficult concepts to understand. Legally you are recognized as an adult at the age of 21, but being a grown up is much more complicated than reaching a simple number. Growing up is both a physical and mental process. It is more common to see people struggle with the mentality portion because when one has grown up and reached maturity, it is not a feeling or a character quality that can be easily described. Rather, we grow up through experiences and lessons that life has a funny way of teaching us. Your first steps, your first day of school, your first heartbreak, your first job -- these are just some of the many huge milestones in our lives that impact us greatly, shaping us into the people we are today.

Although I am only 18 years old, I have experienced many milestones of my own. I have long passed taking my first steps. I have graduated high school. I have gotten my heart completely shattered and torn apart. I continue working at my first job and I have completed my freshman year as a college student, continuing as one for the next seven years. In the past six months, I have grown more mentally than I ever imagined and also dealt with emotional pain. Recently, my family and I had to say goodbye to our beloved yellow labrador, Sadie. Losing Sadie as she neared the age of 11 was a very hard thing to accept. Since my elementary school years, Sadie was always there to come home to and it took a while for me to come to graces with the fact that she was no longer going to be there when I walked through the front door. Even more recently, my mother and I discovered that my dad has been having an affair. This completely shocked me. Not only are my mom and dad no longer living under the same roof, but I have to come to accept that there will no longer be any more "Bryan Family Photos."

Despite the pain and challenges I have been faced with recently, I continue going about my life. Nobody said growing up was going to be easy. If it were easy, we would all be there by now. Instead, we all grow up at different rates through different experiences. There are always going to be people that seem to have an easier time than you, but there are always going to be people that have it a thousand times more difficult than you too. Growing up is difficult to understand. It is more than just a number. It is a time that involves mentality and mental processing. The best advice I can give you is to never give up, do not become discouraged by what takes place around you and do not rush through your adolescent years. Remember that growing up takes time and as the days go by, you grow up more and more every day.