youll understand when youre older

remember when you were a kid and your mom said 

"youll understand when youre older"

remember how much you hated it?

remember how many times you told yourself 

"ill never tell my kids that"

remember that time we grew up and became the elusive "older" 

that your mom spoke about?

yea? me too.

remember when that same mom wouldnt let you 

do something you just had to do?

remember that time you laid on the floor pitching a fit 

screaming "you dont understand!!!!!!" 

(no? just me? ok. cool)

remember the moment you realized your mom did understand, 

and you apologized to her? 

(this probably didnt happen until at least the age of 23) 

(you may not have ever verbalized the apology) 

(mom, here i am finally apologizing)

heres my point. i dont care if youre older, in a position of power, out of work, 

pregnant, a mom of 5, dealing with infertility,

married, divorced, in a relationship or single; 

none of these life stages gave you a key to a whole new book of knowledge 

that no one else in the world has besides those who have 

been through exactly what you have.  

One of my least favorite things is when 

someone tells me i dont understand, 

or i'll understand when (insert specific stage of life here). 

no, i do understand. i am capable of understanding, 

we just have a difference in opinions. 

which is OK, because we're older. remember?

so lets all do our fellow-equally as human-beings a favor 

lets toss this sentence from our vocab. 

because lets get real here, we all understand. 

thats the beauty of the human mind, it is capable of "getting it".

there is an exception to this rule, however!

men will never understand women's emotions

women will never understand men's desire to hunt.

(no? just me again? ok cool.)

side note: if your new life stage did come with a know-it-all-key, 

please share the wealth, because im still trying to figure out this quarter life crisis.