Adulthood Fails

I was talking to a friend about all this growing up stuff the other day, and she brought up an interesting reality that no one really talks much about. She called them her "adulthood fails." Basically, the concept is this: every once in a while, in the midst of living our mature lives, we break down and do something super immature or end up shirking our responsibilities to ourselves or others.

Some examples of this might include (but are certainly not limited to): overcharging your credit card, forgetting to pay a bill, not going into work because you thought you took the day off... Or, you know, crying when you get stranded on a train in the middle of a foreign country for four hours....

Not that I did that or anything.

(Note: this picture is in no way an accurate representation of how I felt about the whole thing)

Basically, adulthood fails remind us that we're still figuring things out. That none of us really have it all together yet. Adulthood fails aren't an excuse to act as immature and irresponsible as you can without consequences. That, my friends, is adulthood failure. Rather, we all have occasional moments when we're still a hot mess, and it's okay to have those moments every once in a great while. They're a reminder that we're all still human and we're all still learning.

So it's okay if you do something dumb once in a blue moon and regret it like crazy. As long as you learn from your mistakes, an occasional fail doesn't make you any worse at this than anyone else.

So… What’s in a Name?

As you may or may not have already guessed, this is not, in fact, a gardening blog. Rather, this is a blog about a young woman attempting to find her place in the adult world.

What does this have to do with parsley? Glad you (hypothetically) asked.

Last year I stumbled upon the fact that I appeared to have a green thumb. With the unfettered and irrational ambition of a young person, I decided to set my sights on growing an herb garden from seed and only eating plants that I grew myself. The basil and the chives shot up and flourished right away, but I was having trouble with the parsley. Naturally, I sought after answers via google as to why my plant would not sprout. I didn’t find much help, but what I did find was an interesting article about all the old wives tales surrounding the difficult-to-sprout plant.

And that was where I saw it. An old myth that “parsley only grows when a strong woman rules the house.” I thought this was interesting, but even more, I took it as a challenge. If I could get this parsley to grow, I could officially champion myself as a “strong woman.”

So when it did sprout, I felt like a BEAST. However, it soon grew really weak and ill-looking. Some leaves became scorched and dried up, others grew sickly and wilted, and it never grew past its first leaves. (eventually it leapt out of the pot to end its poor existence when I turned it sideways to sweep some discarded chives from its container)

That got me thinking. My whole life I’ve considered myself a feminist and strong woman, but looking back and looking around, I’m not so sure that I’m there yet. While everyone else is making their way in life and becoming an adult, I’m still standing at the crossroads, jumping up and down and waving my hands in front of my face indecisively.

So, this blog is a journey. You will find here all the awkward stories, dumb decisions, and life lessons that I encounter along the way. This is my journey to become a strong woman.

And to finally grow some damn parsley.