What I might say to my younger self.

After she gets her diaper changed she stands up on the changing table and glowers. I can't blame her. There's some humiliation in having someone wipe up after you all the time. But even as she stands there at her full height, she's not as tall as mommy or daddy yet. So no matter how it feels, it's now pretty clear, that she's the kid and I'm the adult.

Is being an adult what I imagined? My impression from being about 9 is watching my dad sitting at the dinner table writing checks and paying bills. (I think he still pays bills without a computer) Since my parents never really talked about their work lives, that seemed to be the extent of it.

But now that I'm supposedly an adult, if I could talk to my younger self, be it the 9 year old version or the 13 year old, I'd probably say. I know school is tough at times. And I know eighty percent of what they're trying to jam into your brain will probably have no direct meaning in your adult life, but you need to be responsible and you need to learn to make decisions. Making choices when there are no clear cuts yeses and nos. That's what being an adult is about. Every day at work, I make all kinds of decisions that effect lots of people, many of whom I will never know, but I try to do the best for them and for myself. The world is more complicated than you might imagine. Just choosing your health care coverage or your next car is a choice that could require a high school course. Maybe it shouldn't be this way, but it is. And definitely choose to get married. She'll make you look more responisble and more together than you could ever manage on your own.