Growing up is a part of life. A part of society. A part of this universe. Growing up is inevitable. We all do it eventually, even when we don’t want to. Growing up is saying your first word at five months, or taking your first steps at ten. Growing up is getting your head stuck in a stair railing and having the whole house freak out on what to do while you just laugh. Growing up is your first day of kindergarten. It is your first best friend. Your first crush. Your first A. It is your first everything. Your first goods, bads, and okays. Every life decision you make is based on growing up. From the immature middle school decisions, to the mature adult decisions. P.S. adults don’t know that much either.

Growing up is evidence of how we grow and change. Not only physically but mentally as well. Life will take its toll on you. It’ll challenge you to extreme limits you think you will never be able to surpass. It’ll give you obstacles along the way that you have never trained for. It’ll try to break you into pieces, and maybe it will get close. Heck, you might even crack, but don’t let life fool you. Don’t let it break you into those pieces. Don’t let it think you’re not capable because growing up is also your first F. Growing up is your first heartbreak. It is your last day of school. It is hearing loved ones last words or seeing their last steps. It is having to move from the house with the stair railings your head got stuck in. It is your first beginnings and your first ends. Growing up is full of mysteries and unknowns that you will have to discover along the way. It made you who are. It made you tough, yet so loving. It made you guarded, yet so open. It made you, you. There is no shortcut to growing up. You just have to go through it. I know you can. Along with this letter, I give you these white vans to grow up in, as did I. Hopefully the taste of adventure and risk can be plastered on these soles overtime. The smell of late night beach trips and 12am pit stops sink in. The sight of sunset camping trips and late night runs show because that, that is growing up.