"don't hate, prioritize.......wait what??."

I can feel myself growing up. Not literally but it's almost as if I'm watching my life from another persons perspective.I feel like I have grown as a person more in the past 2 years than I have in the previous 21 years of my life. Why you ask? Priorities. Having your priorities in order is crucial and I believe people that have their priorities straight are content with life.One thing I want you guys to know is that I'm not bragging about how mature I am. I still have A LOT of growing up to do. But I've made strides. As a child, what are your priorities? Being the fastest kid at school, having the most game systems, or kicking the ball the furthest. During your teen to young adult years I'd say the biggest struggle is prioritizing between your family and friends. I feel during this time a lot of kids and their parents drift apart. Pass by each other in the house without saying a word. The only time you see them is before you leave the house, by the time you get home, they're in bed. Everything you say to them ends with an exclamation point, when you go out in public with them you walk as far behind them as possible without being an asshole, just in case you see some of your friends. Nobody was in high school asking their parents what their plans were for the weekend and if they had time to catch a movie. If you were? good for you. I know I wasn't. Even up to as recently as 3 years ago, when I would go back to California to visit, ALL of my time would be spent trying to catch up with friends. I would find myself purposely finding things to do so I would be "out". I would head back to Vegas without having sat down at the dinner table once. There is a huge difference between knowing your priorities and knowing your priorities and acting accordingly. Everyone loves their families. Anybody would die for their families. But do your actions show that on a daily basis? When your mom's birthday lands in between a trip with the buddies, what do you do? When your Dad needs help with something at 5 in the morning, what do you say? The little things...I'm going to sound like a complete asshole here, but even when my Dad would ask me to drop off my grandpa off at his place after church, I would do it, but I would do it with an attitude because I wanted to go eat lunch with a friend. But now I look forward to taking my grandpa home. I like having that time on Sundays when we listen to Korean radio. We don't even talk 80% of the ride, but I like having that time to just him and I, because I know I'm not going to have that time forever. The interesting part is that I never made the conscious effort to try to enjoy taking my grandpa home. It just happened, and I don't know when. When my parents would compare me to other kids when I was young, I would scream, "STOP COMPARING ME TO OTHER KIDS!!". But now I want to be someone my parents can be proud of and show off to others. Again, when did this happen? I'm just going to go ahead and assume that this is what growing up feels like. When people used to say "Oh he's just a kid."? Now I know what they were talking about. But it's not like growing up automatically puts your priorities in order, because there are some grown people out there with their priorities ALL messed up. Like I said before priorities won't always equal success, but I think the better you have them arranged the more content with life you are going to be. "One day your life is going to flash before your eyes. Make sure it's worth watching..."