People Grow Up

Remember the kids you knew in middle school?  The weird ones, the stuck up ones, the quiet ones, the bratty ones.  Well, 10 years later, you will find out that they're different people.

Don't get me wrong; the person who was quiet is probably still quiet.  The prissy kid is still probably a little prissy.  The difference is that they're muted versions of their old selves.  They're less extreme.  They have seen more of the real world and learned from their life experiences.

People grow up.  And when they do, they calm down.  I wonder if that is why so many stories involve young people.  They're coursing with so much energy that they could do superhuman feats.  The world is such a dynamic, over-the-top, black and white place. It certainly makes for interesting stories, but there are so many other stories that they leave out.

Talking with one of my friends, I realized that she and I used to be the kinds of people that never got along.  In all likelihood, if we knew each other back then, we would have hated each other.  It still blows my mind that I am friends with somebody I would have never been friends with in middle school.  And all we had to do was both grow up.

There is fodder for stories, here.  Some stories could be about the changes that people have gone through, which they only realize by looking back.  Other stories could be about people who become friends, despite everything saying they never should be, and discovering why their particular relationship worked.

Get writing.