As a little kid, I used to have the never-ending question of "how do my mom and dad know everything that they do?" I understood that they went to school and got a degree, which I'm sure taught them a lot. But I'm talking about how they knew all of this ~mom and dad stuff.~ Like how did they know to give me an ice pack when I banged my knee? Or which one of those baby-mush foods to feed my baby sister? Or how they knew exactly what to say when I needed them? All while I didn't even know to tie my shoe.
The answer was simple to me back then. I literally, and get ready for this, literally thought there was an "adult book." Like I really thought there was a book made for rising adults that just listed everything there was to know about how to be an adult and a parent. As I got older, almost every day there would be something that made me say "oh yeah, I guess that has to be in the book."
However, one day this idea changed. My naïve idea of their actually being a real-life "how-to" book made me giggle to myself. Although now I am only 19, the last few years has shown me that there is no way everything that is taught during life could even fit into one book. Going through these life events such as high school, my parents' divorce, going to college, and moving into my first apartment has taught me more than I could put down in any book.
Whether it was learning some underlying moral value or merely learning how to cook spaghetti, I understand now how my parents (frankly, any adults) learned these little things they did.
Believe it or not, I actually came to this conclusion quite recently through a simple, and quite funny, evening. The other day I was craving a home-cooked meal for dinner. I was getting tired of my nightly routine of making Ramen or microwaveable edamame and monumentally wanted to cook a meal for myself. I went to the store, bought the ingredients to attempt to make stir-fry, and spent almost an hour on the phone with my dad instructing me on how to properly sauté the chicken and vegetables. (Now, before you judge my lack of home-ec skills, my parents did most of the cooking when I lived at home so I had very little experience. However, I hope there are at least one or two people out there that can relate.) Anyway, I ended up making this ~extravagant~ home-cooked stir fry, that actually tasted really good - and then it hit me.
Literally just growing up and going through life is what teaches you all of these things. Calling your mom from your first apartment while your stir-fry is basically on fire is how you learn the things that I once thought were in this mysterious and all-knowing "adult book". This concept probably doesn't make sense to a lot of people, or quite frankly could just come across as foolish. But hopefully, to some, this sounds like a familiar circumstance. If little-me knew that I would know the things I do now without reading the infamous and almighty "adult book," her mind would be blown.
This is one of my favorite things about the way of life: how small and simple anecdotes are the things that open up the biggest and brightest ideas. So, thank you mom, dad and everyone and everything that I have encountered that has taught me something along the way. Who needs the Adult Book when life just so simply is the biggest book of all?
