Growing Up....GUEST BLOG by Marianna!!

"We grow neither better nor worse as we get old, but more like ourselves." ~ May Lamberton Becker

I'm so excited to have one of my closest, and oldest (meaning longest time....not that she's old!) friends guest blog today! Marianna and I have been friends since the 4th grade. Although we had a year or two of not getting along (circa middle school.....go figure!), we have been really close ever since. Sooooo many of my favorite memories involve her! State Fair dorms, double dates in Grady, her chasing her twin brother with a butcher knife.....I could go on forever. She is one of the sweetest, strongest people I know and I'm so grateful to have her in my life. I think her blog topic is just great, hope you all do too!

So......here's Marianna!

I have realized that as the years pass by and we age one more year, that each has held something great. Growing up is definitely a hard feat and if it were easy everyone would do it. When Tiffany asked me to write on this wonderful blog, my mind went through all of the different stories I could tell or the different events that have happened in our lives. One of the main ones that kept coming back was the idea of when I knew I was ‘grown up’.

· When my hero went from a guy throwing around a football or singing a country song to my dad.
· When Chester and I could actually be together for more than a day and not fight (and if you knew us we sure could! There are great fighting stories that still circulate!)
· When I stopped caring about how other people looked at me.
· When I knew it was OK to express emotion.
· When dad calls me and I don’t think ‘Oh I am too busy to talk right now.’
· When I look back on my childhood and realize how blessed I was to have strict parents.
· When I yearn to have land and cattle.
· When I knew I didn’t have to agree with EVERYTHING anyone talked about.

Growing up is definitely a process that enriches the soul. In one hand, growing up means more responsibility, but on the other hand it means more freedom to spread your wings. Every day you are becoming more like yourself.