A Crash-Course in Adulthood - Episode 5
Love is spending the night in the car or so Taylor discovered when she found herself hospitalized three times during the COVID-19 outbreak. Her illness was not related but her new husband wanted to be as close as he could since no visitors were allowed inside. So he waited in the parking lot. Not once. Not twice but three times. In this episode Taylor talks about her decision to marry young and the difficulties of being a female during these social media times.
Choose people who lift you up.
— Michelle Obama
Bosco Helps Me Cope
Thoughts from A Crash-Course in Adulting
Bosco is Taylor and Zach’s husky. They got him shortly after getting married which came right before the lockdown. Now they are getting to know each other in a more concentrated fashion and learning all the responsibilities of being a young wedded couple.
You may wonder how our family felt about this quickly decided upon marriage. (And no, no baby on the way.) Through each one of our six children (his, mine, ours and theirs - another episode for sure) we have learned many things, and specific things. With Taylor we were taught to be more patient than we thought we could be, and to accept her where she was at, not where we wanted her to be although at times it was very tempting to ignore this and to gently force something on her. More often than not it didn’t work and it made us all miserable. Yes to boundaries. They are necessary to lead a sane life. Yet when we did solve challenges in a collaborative manner things worked better for all of us.
As you heard if you listened to her episode, Taylor is finding joy, learning life-skills in real time, and discovering questions she thought were important in getting to know Zach. Is he good for my mental health? Would he sacrifice for me if it was needed? The answer to these were a resounding yes. And the quick, very quick, courtship continued straight to marriage.
Meanwhile like many women in our culture she has a love-hate relationship with social media. Funny animal videos are entertaining but snarky, put-downs are fodder for questioning worth. As Taylor shares, self-worth is very difficult for her. She is learning to proclaim I am OK; I’m good enough; You don’t have to be a stick (thin) to be gorgeous. And she has learned something every woman, every person needs to know and practice. Love yourself first.
Taylor shared some wisdom she uses to help cope with hard times: You gotta breathe and you can get through it. Slow down and you can deal with the stress at hand. I just love that she is putting that into practice.
She is maturing at a quick rate by living this crash-course in adulthood. Who knew? I am grateful she has Zach and Bosco to bring her joy.
Dogs are not our whole lives,
but they make our lives whole.
— Roger Caras
