Am I a Grownup?

I spent yesterday in the ER with my dad. He and Mom were driving in from Alabama for Elizabeth's birthday and he started having some lower right quadrant pain about 8:30. By the time he got into town, it was to the point that he couldn't wait for a regular clinic visit, so off to the hospital we went. I was thinking appendix, but it turned out to be kidney stones. He's had them before, but the pain was in a different place this time, so he didn't recognize what was going on.

Mom was shaken up (as I would have been had it been my husband and us both away from our regular healthcare resources) so I was trying to take the adult role, monitoring what was going on and advocating for him as well as I could, and it occurred to me that I'm a grownup.

I'm not sure when this happened. I don't feel particularly grown up. I don't feel much different than I did at 25. I have a husband, a kid, a house, a mortgage, a car payment, and a stack of bills to pay every month, so I have all the trappings of grownup-hood, but there's no grownup inside. I'm just as scared today as I was when I left for college. (Well, maybe not THAT scared, but close.) I even have some grownup things that aren't just grownup things: they're middle-aged-grownup things, like blood pressure medicine, acid reflux, fiber supplements, and reading glasses. I'm also going to turn 50 this year. And I have high school classmates who are now raising their grandchildren.

So why did I have to keep reminding myself that I was a grownup yesterday?

Happy Easter!

I guess the Easter Bunny is resting up from his journey now. I think he hit our house last, then headed straight home to bed. I know this because he didn't actually make it to our house until waaaaay after the sun came up, and Elizabeth was in the shower.

Every Easter we sing one of my favorite hymns:

Christ the Lord is risen today. Alleluia!
Sons of men and angels say Alleluia!
Raise your joys and triumphs high. Alleluia!
Sing, ye heavens, and earth reply, Alleluia!

Love's redeeming work is done. Alleluia!
Fought the fight, the battle won, Alleluia!
Death in vain forbids him rise. Alleluia!
Christ has opened Paradise! Alleluia!

Soar we now where Christ has led. Alleluia!
Following our exalted head, Alleluia!
Made like Him, like Him we rise. Alleluia!
Ours the cross, the grave, the skies. Alleluia!

I always think of my goofy brother-in-law when we sing that song. He sang "following our exhausted head" one year, and my sisters and I haven't sung the song without laughing since.

UPDATE:

Okay ... I just got back from church, and WE DIDN'T SING IT! I thought there was a law against that, or something.

Oh, well. Happy Easter anyway.