Grown Up

I remembering being 10, 12, 15- pretty much any age under 18, and all I could do was dream about being an adult. I was determined to be the most awesome adult that ever graced the world with their presence. I was going to be one giant bottle of awesome sauce, and no one could stop me. Every child would look at me and say, "Wow, if I'm only half as cool and amazing as her when I'm older, I'll be lucky!" All the adults I would know would be jealous of my awesomeness, and would fight to be friends with me. I'd never worry about bills and such, because I would walk out of high school with a high paying job (you know, cause people would be so overwhelmed by my awesomeness, they'd give me a job right away). My checking account would be overflowing with money, and I would have the most awesome checks ever, complete with a matching checkbook holder.

I was going to be amazing. The epitome of adulthood.

Then I turned 18.

At the risk of being a happy-ending story wrecker, let me tell you now- I did not possesses all this awesomeness. I did not have the amazing paying job, nor did I have awesome checks (or a checking account, for that matter, let alone the matching checkbook holder). I was not fancy. Come to think of it, I don't think I was, or am, even cool.

I decided, at the ripe old age of 18, that I needed a new car. Instead of being smart and shopping around, I acted like a child would. I went to the first dealership I saw, got the first car they showed me, and signed my first official contract. The next day, I signed my second official contract- a one year lease on an apartment. 18 years and 1 day old, and I was locked in to two tight contracts. Being an adult was a piece of cake!

I think it was about 2 months later, after I got my first set of bills, when I really started to realize that adulthood sucked. I had to pay more money then I was making. That means I had to pick up extra shifts at my ultra fancy waitress job. Which means I had less time to prove how awesome of an adult I was to my other adult friends.

Long story short, I ended up moving out of my apartment before the lease was up- the ex roommate was a big bag of craziness, and I couldn't deal with it. Literally, she would hide cords to the cable box, even though I paid half the cable bill, all because I didn't leave the remote on the table, but on the couch. C-R-A-Z-Y. I totalled my car, which of course I had lapsed on insurance. Oh yeah, and I was pregnant.

Now, 8 years later, I kind of laugh when I see all these kids running around, trying to prove they're an adult because they can drop the F bomb every 3 minutes. Even people in their 20s are still trying to prove that they are adult by doing all these big adult things. If you want to prove you're an adult, prove you are able to make good decisions, then simply live your life. Do the best you can do. Don't live beyond your means, and don't make fast decisions just because you can. Show people your an adult by being level minded and clear headed.

There is plenty of time to be an adult, but only so much time to be a kid. My adult self wishes she could go back and tell my kid self that.

I would also tell my kid self that Surge would be discontinued, all the good cartoons would be replaced by new cartoons that resemble sex toys, and Dr. Pepper is not worth the calories it has in it, but that is a whole different post....

Don't bite your friends.