Being Grownup

A preface:

There are several pivotal books that set me on the path to be who I am today.

The first: Are You My Mother, recorded by my grandmother in her West Virginian accent.  This is the first book I remember loving.

The second: Roald Dahl's The BFG.  The first book I was unable to put down.  I remember placing it on top of my dresser, feeling a bit of loss when I closed the final cover.

The third: Madeline L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time.  The first fantasy/science fiction book I ever read, which opened my eyes to the genre that will forever be my favorite.

The point:

I came across this quote while looking for some words of inspiration to send to Elder Bluemel.  I was struck by how perfectly I related to the words.  And then when I noticed it was quoting Madeline L'Engle herself, I knew I had to put it somewhere where its wisdom would not be lost to me.  So here goes.

“I am still every age that I have been. Because I was once a child, I am always a child. Because I was once a searching adolescent, given to moods and ecstasies, these are still part of me, and always will be...

This does not mean that I ought to be trapped or enclosed in any of these ages...the delayed adolescent, the childish adult, but that they are in me to be drawn on; to forget is a form of suicide...

Far too many people misunderstand what *putting away childish things* means, and think that forgetting what it is like to think and feel and touch and smell and taste and see and hear like a three-year-old or a thirteen-year-old or a twenty-three-year-old means being grownup.

When I'm with these people I, like the kids, feel that if this is what it means to be a grown-up, then I don't ever want to be one. Instead of which, if I can retain a child's awareness and joy, and *be* fifty-one, then I will really learn what it means to be grownup.”

― Madeleine L'Engle