Thanks to Isabella Marie Spry, our dear daughter and "baby" of the Spry family, for sharing this with us! She was last a guest author when she wrote the movie review at THIS link:
The one thing that I was never prepared for in life was growing up. I knew it was bound to happen at one point or another. But I suppose I imagined it would be a definite moment in my life. And it’s true that there are a few moments that I can really hold out in my mind as times I felt grown up: applying for my first job, receiving my first paycheck, getting my driver's license and first car. But then there are the more melancholy things about growing up that happen over time. Like, when was the last time my parents tucked me into bed? Since when was I allowed to eat as much sugar as I wanted with only the dentist to reckon? When was the first time my parents didn’t wait for me at curfew and trusted I'd be home on time? Well, perhaps not that, they do still stay awake until they hear the door. I am only sixteen after all. But the fact still stands: one day I was sitting there and realized that my parents no longer tucked me in, sang me to sleep, brushed my teeth or drove me places. “When did this happen?!” I remember thinking. “And why do I miss it so much?”
It’s true that since I was little, I was so incredibly excited for many things: Driving! Makeup! Boys! High school! So thrilling! But now when I experience what my mother likes to call “teenage angst”--or as normal people refer to as “feelings”--I wonder what happened. What happened to all that excitement and happiness and all those expectations? It took me a few months to really process this. I was having trouble figuring out the right word to explain the rough feelings I was experiencing with growing up. My sister helped me articulate (shout out Bailey Spry, you are seen.) Disenchantment. Yep. Very magical, amiright? But it’s true. As a kid I had so many hopes, dreams and expectations. I imagined I could be whatever I wanted and get whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. Not in a spoiled-brat-kind-of way. But in a way where anything was possible. I was powerful enough to achieve all that I desired in life. How oh-so-incorrect I was! Some personal experience in disenchantment as follows:
First, acting is not a realistic career for me. Took me a couple years to figure that one out. Second, you need a job in order to make money you wish to spend (thanks Jake Spry for this eye-opening advice.) No you do not need that special soap from Target. Third, friends can break your heart.
I know what you're thinking . . . Isabella Spry, you are sixteen. Stop the teenage angst, sit down and study for that AP test. Haha, joke's on you, it's summer. In all realness, however, my mother suggested I write about teenage angst. So I’m doing the best I can.
Disenchantment really hit me hard when life wasn’t perfect after 8th grade. School isn’t easy, some people aren’t nice, seasonal depression is a reality and so are moments of zero motivation.
I really think the only way to accept growing up with the least amount of pain as possible is to accept that there WILL be pain. Yes, it’s sad to lose those things that I cherished as a child. And, yes, there are things in high school that will leave you curled up in bed at night wondering where it went wrong. But, I’m not gonna leave it at that. Disenchantment is very real. But there are also enchanting things about growing up. Standing up in the sunroof on a warm, summer day on a back road (shout out, Aaron Spry, thanks for the adventures.) Star gazing on the soccer field. Roofing on the baseball dugout. Prom. Absolutely dying of laughter with your best friends.
Growing up is not always as beautiful as movie screens claim. However, no matter how much pain or “teenage angst” is felt, growing up isn’t the worst thing that can ever happen to a child.
Isabella just began her senior year of high school. She loves to hang out with family and friends, cheer for her high school football team, act in community theatre and engage with her church youth group.
Disenchantment < Enchantment
Above, Bella in snow and sand. Below, as Snow White with her favorite community theatre troupe
Awkward family photo ~ Indian Springs Metropark, White Lake, Michigan 2013
Bella with her Dad and me
Above, Bella's first day of 8th grade. Below, a senior pic on the stands (photo credit: Clay Purvis)
Above, Bella with her brother Jacob and sister, Hailey. Below, she and brother Aaron and a sunroof.
Above, Bella Marie and Bailey June. Below, a special senior photo shoot on Maui ~ July 2021
photo credits: Viola Gaskell (Viola Jean Photography)
Bella surrounded by parents, sibs and Montana mountains, Glacier National Park ~ July 2019
Better a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer knows how to heed a warning. ~ Ecclesiastes 4:13
"The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride. Do not say, 'Why were the old days better than these?' For it is not wise to ask such questions." ~ Ecclesiastes 7:8,10
"Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil." ~ Ecclesiastes 12:13-14
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