Never Grow Up

Last week I went out and bought the new Taylor Swift cd. I love it! Every single song is awesome but I do have to say my favorite is Never Grow Up. I listened to it as I was on my way to the store and immediately burst into tears. She sings about enjoying your childhood and how we should not be in a rush to grow up! This song really hit home to me

I grew up in a close knit family. My parent's revolved their whole lives around my brother and I. Weekends were started off by movie night on Friday and would continue to include trips to the zoo, museum, movies, etc. Any family friendly activity that went on we were there, along with getting together with other various family members. We went on two big family vacations a year and I can honestly say that there wasn't a vacation that my parent's took that we didn't accompany them on.

Growing up I loved all these outings and family vacations but remember by the time I hit my teenage years the last thing I wanted to do was spend a week with my parent's anywhere. I complained and grumbled and the minute we got home I rushed to the phone to call my friends. Friday movie nights gave way to outings with my friends and by the time I reached college I was ready to move out. My parent's warned I shouldn't rush getting an apt with friends but did I listen? Nope. And Dad you were totally right. If I would have stayed home for a few years I prolly wouldn't have ended up in so much credit card debt. But anyway back to my post. My college years were filled with nights out with friends and long gone were weekends spent with the family. By my senior year of college I was over it though. I longed for quieter times and missed the days spent with my family.

When I met the hubs and he deployed I moved back in with my parent's.I loved growing closer to them again and being able to spend more time with them. I wish I could have taken back every vacation where I wasted time complaining about being away from my friends, spent more times with my parent's and not being embarassed when they tried hard to fit in with my friends. It's funny how as you get older you try so hard to recapture your childhood and relish every memory.

My parent's also were big on traditions, especially around the holiday's. My mom always made a big deal out of decorating the house for every holiday and planning many family functions. As a child I loved this but as a sullen teenager I could have cared less if we went and cut our own christmas tree down and dreaded spending a day decorating the tree with my mom. However that also changed my senior year of college. It was as if as I grew older I realized that family and time spent with them was more important than night out with friends. I got back into celebrating the holiday's with my parent's and loved tramping through the forest in snow boots looking for a tree and then rushing home to decorate it. I loved all my family traditions and couldn't wait to start my own

I found that once I moved to NC I did my best to continue these traditions with M and I also tried to incorporate our own traditions with my family's. Now that we have decided to go back to Wisconsin this year for Christmas I am fully in the christmas spirit. I can't wait to spend some much needed time with my family.

My favorite line in the Never Grow Up song is when Taylor sings about not making your mom drop you off around the block because remember that she is growing older too. This is the line that really touched close to home. I can try my best to pretend that my parent's are not growing older and that we don't live far away.But in fact they are and who knows how often we will be able to make it home for the holiday's. I can't wait to see them in a month and celebrate my old childhood traditions and share them with M. And part of me will wish that I was still a little kid again!!