A Grown Up Is a Chile With Layers On." --Woody Harrelson

Grown up… What is grown up? Am I a grown up??

If there are:

60 seconds in a minute

60 minutes in an hour

24 hours in a day

365 days in a year

And 24 years in my lifetime (so far),

Then I have officially lived

756,864,000 seconds as of today, my 24^th birthday.

In that time:

I have graduated high school—STOP!! Choose a career.

A tree has fallen on my car. Pay $5,000 if not insured.

I have had major surgery. Pay $10,000 to the Doctor.

I have met my true love. STOP!! Get married.

I have given birth to a daughter. Take a LIFE tile. (Also pay $$$ to the doctor and the diaper salesman and basically everyone else on the planet—Geez, kids are expensive!!)

I suppose I am still at the beginning of the game of LIFE—I haven’t even STOP!! Graduate[d] College. Or STOP!! Purchase[d] a house. yet. I have a good three quarters of the board left!

But even in my small amount of playing time, I have learned that LIFE isn’t about the destination. As cliché as it sounds, it really is about the journey. Sometimes you roll a “Lose next turn.” as I have more than once before. And sometimes You get caught speeding –Pay $500 to the Policeman. But that’s okay because other times you roll a Play with your kids. Take a LIFE tile. And you get to Go on a Caribbean Cruise. Pay $2,500 to the Travel Agent. Totally worth it. These are the things that make life rich. It doesn’t matter if you live in the Victorian Mansion or the Split-Level Apartment. And although LIFE sometimes makes us think otherwise, it doesn’t even matter if we end if in Millionaire Estates or settle in Countryside Acres.

What matters most is what our beloved prophet Thomas S. Monson has counseled us: “Find joy in the journey.” We must find happiness, for that is our purpose. “Adam fell that men might be and men are that they might have joy” (2 Ne. 2: 25). Even the prophet Gordon B. Hinckley advised, “In all of living have much fun and laughter. Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured.”

So I plan on it. :)

"I guess when it comes down to it being grown up isn't half as fun as growing up." The Ataris