girl or woman?

I always wondered at what point I would feel like a woman, not a young lady, or a girl. I thought that gradually over the years I would make decisions that would take me farther away from girlhood and closer to womanhood. Part of me still exists in both worlds. I cry like a girl, am insecure like a girl, and still sneak peanut butter m&ms. But I also love like a woman, stand up for myself and my beliefs like a woman, and mail my own Christmas cards (something I have always associated with adulthood).

And on Thanksgiving I took one definite step away from girlhood and towards womanhood. It was after Thanksgiving dinner and everyone was sitting back to digest. I stood up, collected the plates, and went into the kitchen to do the dishes without a thought in the world. My mother had cooked all day, I certainly wasn’t going to let her clean. So there I was, for the next hour, washing dishes, while my aunts dried them, gossiping about life.

In years past I would grudgingly go help my aunts and mother clean up. But this year, I was leading the clean up, with my aunts helping me, with no grudge. It just seemed like what I should do.

This revelation may seem trivial, but to me, I really felt like I had taken one step toward being a “grown up.”