Fifteen

You think you’re grown up

And know what you’ll do

You can’t see the obstacles

That will come before you.

Decisions that haunt you

Best laid plans gone awry

You can’t even fathom

All the tears that you’ll cry.

They aren’t all sad tears

There’s joyous ones too

A wedding, a birth,

maybe a grandchild or two.

It goes by so quickly

There was barely a chance

To cherish each moment

Or to learn how to dance.

So don’t sweat the small stuff

You’ll get through it somehow

Be grateful for everything

That’s in your life now.

For we don’t become stronger

when everything’s grand

It’s the struggles that shape us

and help us understand

That life is a lesson

With many a turn

But it’s all meant to teach us

If we’re willing to learn.