My baby turned 21 on Sunday, March 1st. He is now of "legal age". I can't express how that makes me feel in any other words but these: "old" and "scared". When I was 21, I had already been married in the Temple, gone through the 'valley of the shadow of death' in childbirth, and survived the Teton Dam flood disaster! I was a busy wife, mom, and new Primary President in St. Anthony 3rd Ward. I really felt 'of age' and all grown up then. I knew so much about life and had no fear! I am now (gulp) 52 and the older I get, the less I know about life and the more scared I become. In 1977 the world was so very different at my "21". Road rage and child predator data bases were non-existent. Pornography was a photo of a topless girl available only in the centerfold of a $3 Playboy magazine. To buy one in Preston, Idaho you had to walk into one of two local drugstores and ask for one. They were taped up in a brown paper wrapper and kept behind the counter and there was shame in buying one. I worked as a soda jerk/clerk at Foss Drug. There were 3 'regulars'---middle-aged men who would come in each month, go directly to Ezra's pharmacy counter and then bring it to me to ring up. They never could look me in the eye.
How different is today...with one click of a 'mouse button' unimaginable images are flashed in a split-second's time - even unsolicited - to people much younger than 'legal' age. AND-there is no shame involved.
I often wondered where that mother pig was when those foolish little pigs went out into the world to seek their fame and fortunes. Hopefully, 21 really is the magic age! I hope Jake will go out and build the house of his future on a strong foundation, and not get eaten by 'the big bad wolf'. So, "Happy Birthday" to my youngest piglet. Stay away from sticks and straw!
