I've come to the conclusion the other day that I'm going to be an adult. The startling fact is that I'm actually liking the changes. Don't get me wrong; I still miss and remember fondly my college years. You have an abundance of people that are all close to your age around you. There's an endless flow of social or spiritual things you can do. And you always can party till the wee hours of the morning.
But that's has all changed now. I was talking with my co-workers about weekends, and all they talked about is going to 6th Street and getting trashed. I couldn't even remember the last time I had gone to 6th Street. Maybe it's because I'm married or because I don't have college friends around, but I was happier thinking about my lazy weekend at home fishing and renting movies.
Ways you turn into an adult:
1) Never go to sleep after 10 p.m. on a week night. Sleep is a much higher priority than partying at night. You have a real job now, and you need at least 7 hours of sleep a night. A sad consequence to this is that it is nearly impossible to sleep in later than 9:00 on weekends. Your body is so used to waking up early during the week, that someone forgot to give it the memo to sleep in on the weekend.
2) You call your parents not because you have to, but you want to. No longer seen as a dependent in their eyes, you become more of a friend. We can talk more freely about anythings, and they actually want your opinion on things. I love talking to my parents.
3) It becomes extremely hard to keep up with old friends. We all thank facebook and myspace for making it easier to know what's going on in the lives of people that used to be close to us, but its just not the same. Conversations with friends turn into long sessions of updates on what has changed since you last talked, instead of the random conversations you used to have. Ultimately distance and how often you talk play the biggest roles on which of your once numerous friendship stay close.
4) Huge financial commitments. Kevin and I are going to buy a house this summer, and to wrap your mind around a 30 Year loan is hard to handle. You go from being a naive newlywed couple to having to figure out: how many kids are we going to have? (this will determine how many bedrooms we need), is this a good school district? (it maybe a gorgeous house, but in a crummy district), what would be the monthly payment? (Sure I have a good job now, but I'm not going to have it forever). It's all really exciting. Walking into each home and imagining how your life will start to look. Maybe a park close-by that you can take the kids on picnics to or a huge tree in the back that will make a tree-house some day.
If you can think of any other ways you've become an adult, please share them! If I haven't experienced them already, it will be nice to be prepared that they are coming along the way!
