BC WildFIRE

I remember the first time I thought of myself as an adult. My mum and I were talking and I disagreed with what she was saying. That definitely wasn't the first time; I was a teenager once and I naturally contradicted my mother as a deranged rite of passage quite often. But this time, I honestly didn't think that she was correct, without any malice or spitefulness, and the thought occurred to me; my mum might just be wrong, and I may be right. This moment came with a wave of realization as that thought blossomed into an idea; just because one of my parents say something, that does not make it necessarily correct. Suddenly, the frame at which I look at people of my parents' generation shifted from rather omniscient guidance counselors to just people, like me. I realized that I didn't have to defer decisions to them just based on their elder status, and that I could confidently make my way in the world without permission. I was in my mid-twenties when this happened. It...