Growing Up is Hard to Do

When you're a kid, sometimes all you want to do is grow up and be an adult. So you can have freedoms, and privileges, and all that other fun stuff you imagine is on the other side of the fence.

But then you get there, and you discover - adulting isn't necessarily all fun and games.
In fact, sometimes it stinks!

Such is the experience of the newest adult in my household.
Josh recently drove over some train tracks and had something fall out of his Jeep. Maybe it was the steering shaft? Whatever it was, he couldn't drive it anymore and had the Jeep towed to the repair shop.
Of course, that was a Saturday.
And the following Monday was the Fourth of July - so the shop was closed.
And they were real busy Tuesday and Wednesday and didn't have a chance to look at the Jeep yet. So Josh was getting antsy because of the transportation restrictions which had so unexpectedly been placed on him. And were lasting longer than he wanted.
He was anticipating the repair would be a quick fix. Just re-install the part!
And the delay was vexing him.

I understood his frustration with the wait. And I wished there was some way I could assure him - because I've had a lotta years of waiting - that it would come to an end.
Part of adulting means waiting. Sometimes on other people - because they're busy getting other things done. And sometimes on God - because HE knows the right time.
But I knew his heart was too anxious to listen, so I kept my thoughts quiet.

When I got home from work Friday, I found Josh had entered into another one of the down sides of adulting. That is, making big financial decisions.
As it turns out, the repair is going to be more difficult than it would seem to the untrained observer. That is, about $1,400 more difficult. And Josh is faced with the choice of going forward with the repair, OR coming up with a plan and the money to get a new (new-to-him, that is) vehicle.
Because, how much more money does he really want to put into that Jeep???
The poor kid - I mean, adult! - is beside himself. This pot hole was not in his plans. And he is not prepared to face it. (Our graduation gift to him was "forgiving" the remainder of his loan on the Jeep. So he hasn't had much time to save up for his next vehicle.) He's a mix of angry, sad, and feeling like life isn't fair.
And I get it. I do!
Unplanned, hard times like this are a part of adulting.
It's one of those times when adulting stinks!
And although my son's anxious heart may not be prone to listening right now, I pray God will give me the words Josh needs to receive encouragement. Because growing up is hard to do, and I don't want him to feel like he's got to go through it alone.