Maturity Is A Fickle Thing

Maturity has to be fickle since it takes so long to latch onto, or at least it did for some of us guys. I've said a few times that I became a man in high school and I firmly believe that I did. I can pick out several things that happened that were milestones along my journey.

I don't know why girls mature quicker than guys... generally speaking... but in some respects it does take guys a little longer to "put aside childish things". Some might argue that we never do, we only substitute the games we played then for the bigger and more expensive toys of the games we play now.

I remember once in junior year a friend (no names) sat next to me nearly in tears about a personal situation he was going through. In hindsight that had two milestones in it. One for him for opening up and one for me for listening. I had reached a point where my first impulse was not to make light of the situation. I let him talk and I just listened.

Later that year I sat in Study Hall with June Clinton and had a very enjoyable chat. She talked a little about her and I talked a little about me and we talked a lot about a few things we had in common. Around that same time I walked home one day after school with one of the more "popular" girls, who after a time opened up a little bit about an issue she had with the guy she was dating. I remember both of these because it was the first time I honestly talked with a girl without clowning around or feeling the need to ask her out. The first time I fully realized that I could be friends with a girl with no need for any other obligation.

I would like to say that I also discovered the importance of school, but that one didn't sink in until a couple of years after graduation when I found myself facing a major life decision, only this time I had a wife and young son to worry about. Funny how a situation like that can make things so much clearer. It made me see that if things were going to work out I was going to have to get off my butt and make something of myself.

Anyway, looking back it's plain which stops in the road helped make me a man. Too bad they're not that obvious when you're coming from the other direction.