The 26 year old kid.

[cerealjoe]

In a recent post on my flist there was a discussion about the notion of "family" and it came out that there are others like me out there - we're 25+ years old but for us "family" does not mean the family we start but rather our parents, our siblings, etc. At heart I am still a 17 year old at best, it's like that. I am a responsible adult who lives by herself, goes to work every day, pays bills on time, etc. but I still feel somehow 17 years old and do not feel any pressure to grow up in any kind of way. Society though wants me grow up and makes it known in very subtle ways, I've had people ask me what my maiden name was because my first and last name seemed to clash for them, others ask me if I have kids or when I plan on having some, still others wonder why I haven't "settled" yet... whatever that means. But really, coming back to the start of that flist discussion, when someone asks about my "family" never would it cross my mind to say "oh, I'm not married/I don't have kids yet"! What kind of an answer is that? Of course my family is my parents and my sis and my grand-parents and other relatives if we go even further into the family circle! I still take a lot of pride of being my parents' child, the position of baby of the family? That's mine! I may be a huge loner at heart who thrives when left unattended and undisturbed but I love nothing more than coming back to my parents' place and raiding their cheese-box in the fridge and the awesome food that my mum cooks and then there are the garden visits when one can only be in awe before the huge amount of work that has always been done there since my last visit, etc. All this because there are days when just looking at photos of this simple tomato soup makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Man, it's really simple right, it's just tomato soup and yet I have yet to master the art of making it taste and giving it the texture to make it just like my mum's.