Girl, you're in puberty again
For a millisecond, I am tempted to slam the door so hard that the glasses in the cupboard start rattling. Just because it feels so old and familiar deep down inside. Not that I do it, because I certainly didn't turn 31 to act so adolescent towards dad or, even worse: my mother-in-law. But sometimes it would be nice.
I feel rebellious, maybe even a bit unjustly, I turn mosquitoes into entire colonies of elephants and I only do this with my (in-laws). Which brings me to the question: does a second puberty exist? That you rebel against the prevailing order, so to speak, even though they are no longer prevailing. YES, I hear all around me. One of my friends had it when she was pregnant, another when she was heading to high school (and I mean age, not school) and yet another adopted the attitude of a sixteen-year-old when she moved out on her own. With my just-turned-thirty self, I am far from being a teenager (I think), there is also no little one on the way and I have been living on my own for some time now. So what am I struggling with? No idea. But could it be that I have entered a second puberty? One that might be free of ugly teenage pimples and the first time getting your period and fiddling with tampons, but where your mood swings go through the roof and you get that from dads or moms?
Puberty has everything to do with rebellion, so you can form your own identity. It is necessary when you transition from child to adult, but also when your mother (truly well-meaning) puts her pregnancy diary with handy tips on your nightstand because you are expecting. You are not waiting for it, because of course you want to call her in tears when you forget to put a fresh diaper in the bag and are already five minutes stuck in traffic with a kiddo with a big load in the diaper, but you mainly want to do it all by yourself.
It has of course everything to do with hormonal fluctuations. Women seem to be able to experience it instead of a midlife crisis. How lame is that? Your beloved, with a bit of bad luck, goes looking for a young, blonde thing and a new sports car, and you are standing there like a screaming teenager whining because you think life is unfair.
Long story short: only disadvantages, that second puberty, I am not participating in that nonsense. I almost want to stamp my feet just at the thought of it. No idea what my hormones are doing or which prevailing order I feel, but hereby it was just a small irritation that I am making bigger than necessary. But if you get the idea that you have it under the weather, it definitely exists. Beware...
