A little while ago, Michael D’Agostino, of A Life Examined, brought up the idea of a new blog hop called Question of the Month. He thinks blog readers would like to know a little more about us, the bloggers. So we’re all gathering to show you guys who we are by taking part in the Question of the Month blog hop, the first Monday of each month.
Happy New Year Everyone! Let’s jump right in.
This month’s question is: What was your “growing up” moment?
I don’t think I can narrow this down to any one specific moment. Being one of those kids who was always told I was wise beyond my years, I matured early and became a realist shortly after. Here are a few things I think helped me grow up rather quickly.
1) I was too young to really experience the years of my mother being a single parent because she soon got remarried to the man I call Daddy, but she always instilled a since of independence into me and my sister just in case. Still, I have a few post toddler memories of doing things for myself so my mom wouldn’t have to.
2) I went to stay with some cousins when I was about 8 or 9 and remember ironing my own clothes for the first time because I was the youngest and didn’t want anyone to have to wait for me to get dressed. I didn’t know what I was doing, but I did it anyway.
3) The first year my mother, sister, and I lived in Virginia was a tough year in many ways I’d rather not discuss right now, plus my dad was still in Texas finishing up a degree (He went back to school for it). I was either 11 or 12 and I prepared my first Thanksgiving dinner… If I didn’t do it, we would not have had one that year. My sister helped, but it was still a life altering experience for me.
4) During my older sister’s rebellious teen years, my parents often left the house and car keys with me if they had to leave for the night or over the weekend. I couldn’t even drive yet, but it was up to me to see that my big sister didn’t destroy anything. (In retrospect, she really wasn’t that bad; I was just a boring straight edge that my parents trusted more at the time.)
Lastly, at the age of 16, when I found myself trying to mentor a 13-year-old-girl into not having sex just to be liked more by boys, I knew my childhood was over. It was time for me to be an example to other young black women and show them that they didn’t have to be a teen pregnancy statistic if they didn’t want to be.
Sorry, that got a little deep.
Please visit the other participants in this hop and even join in if you’d like. I’m curious to see if others had really deep or easy-going growing up moments.
Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords