Growing up? Is it a must?

A friend from USC called this morning. It's funny that we were talking for almost one hour and yet we were really never all that close when we were back in school. I recently got reconnected with her because of an e-mail she gave me a while back telling me how her brother got cancer and wanted me to pray over this matter. Her brother is only a year older than us (31) and having stomach cancer at this age is devastating.

I went to play for her sister's wedding a few weeks back too, and I guess seeing my friend 1st time in many many years was interesting. She was still very uplifted and energetic, but sure looked older than when we were at school. I guess we are all growing old, and we only notice it when looks are compared after a long while....

A few weeks ago I started asking her about some teacher's association issues since some of my students' parents absolutely want to force their kids to go through the tests. We started chatting a little more than before, and yes....once my ability of "getting more information than I needed" kicked in, I found myself listening to her life issues....

Apparently her relationship with this white dude is supposed to lead into marriage, but then her mom is kinda stopping it without saying so. She had always been a very very hard worker since she was in school. She was very into making money teaching and gigging whenever there was a chance. She is now teaching at this small university that I don't even know down in Irvine after she got her DMA...and still teaching back in Arcadia during weekends. I used to wonder why she would work so hard, but now I realize (after she told me her family stories a little) that she just wanted to be independent and away from her family.

I guess growing up is a pain in the ass. I used to tutor a lot when I was in school too. All I wanted was to sustain whatever living expenses I absolutely needed to afford. That wasn't all that hard when I was living by myself and paying 400 for rent. I was able to even enjoy life a little whenever I had to go out and hang out with friends. Money issues never really crossed my mind much. Making money was easy and spending money was easy...and it was not the only thing I had to worry about cuz I needed to practice and study....on top of my relationships with whoever...

Now we are all grown up, more things worry us. We are just taught to worry about things we don't have. We worry about our career cuz age means you got to have something to prove yourself with. We worry about not having our own house cuz nobody is supposed to keep on renting forever after they are all grown up. Girls worry about not getting married cuz the older you grow the more depreciated you get. After one gets married then you can surely worry about marriage not working out....and also the issues of having kids or not....like life is really all about how people look at us....and at the end.....nobody really cares about your life cuz they are all worried about theirs at the same time...

I told her I would give her all the resources I had with my wedding if saving money is what she needs. I really don't know if she would get married any time soon though...but if it is really such a big thing in people's lives I guess I would like to help a little as long as I don't dislike the people getting married too much. :p Anyway.....I still think it's quite interesting how growing up is such a pain in the ass....and also interesting how friendship sometimes just come at unexpected times....