growing up

while having a talk with some friends that day, it just seemed to me that we're all growing up. the problem is, i think we're growing up too quickly that childhood seems almost hard to leave behind. by childhood, i mean the times when we weren't so busy with our own lives, the times when we had tolerance for the things happening around us, a mark of innocence. in short, the times when we didn't have to complicate matters but look at life simply, taking one day at a time.

it's painful to realise that as we grow older, our paths inevitably diverge and our differences seem to be ever more apparent without the cloud of ignorance that covered these differences when we used to be younger, and in adult terms, less mature. maybe i've gotten my a level results, so it is as though school is behind me and what lies ahead is a great blur. maybe it's because i'm always training in my army camp, she's always relief teaching in her school and he's always busy with community work. either way, it feels like childhood is only something i can reminiscence about from now on.

my dad's never talked to me so seriously and analytically - like how adults talk to each other - the day i got my results. i used to love being pampered by my mum; is it really me who's constantly concerned about her now? even my brother doesn't seem like a 'kid' brother to me anymore. he's growing up too, like everyone else around me - my classmates, church friends and neighbours... when adult life begins, is it true that everyone's lives are their own to live, and no one else's anymore?