A New Chapter

The people I talk to the most are my mom, dad, and sister. Like any family, we’ve been through a lot—divorces, marriages, job changes, moving across the world, now a pregnancy. But no matter what, we go through it together.

Some might say it’s a flaw, but every big decision I make, I think about how my family would react. We all see things differently, but I feel like I always have a little Sara, Brandon, and Ava in my pocket, running a mental simulation of how each of them would handle a situation. It’s oddly comforting.

Ava and I grew up watching our parents figure out life, and now we’re at this weird stage where we actually have to use everything we learned. Which, honestly, feels a little unfair. No one really tells you when the shift happens, when you stop just observing and actually have to do the thing. But here we are.

And now, everything is changing again. Ava’s about to have a baby, David and I are planning our future, Angel is growing up way too fast, and my parents—who were always just our parents—are about to become grandparents. The dynamic is shifting.

I never really thought about this part. The part where we’re not the “kids” anymore. Where we go from being the focus of our parents' world to watching them build their own lives again, while the next generation takes over. As much as our parents love us, grandkids will officially be the favorite. That’s just how it goes.

It’s that weird in-between of feeling kind of old, but also knowing there’s still so much ahead.

Like the other day, I was on a Zoom call with my team, listening to everyone introduce themselves and casually drop all their impressive experience. Meanwhile, I was sitting there thinking, Well, this is my first big-girl job. It’s intimidating. But also, kind of a relief. I still have so much time to figure it all out.

So, I guess this is the beginning of something. Not sure what yet. But we’ll see.