A great question

[cjsmith]

stolen from evilegg

What makes you feel really adult?

In the "I can't believe I'm getting away with this" category, my first responses were:

• Checking into a hotel with someone to whom I am not legally wed.
• Changing the landscaping around my house. It's not a rental -- I can pull all that ivy and put nice flowers or lawn in if I want to.
• Heck, saying the words "my house". (Until I ran out of money and chose to sell, the words "my airplane" were like that too. I mean really! I was allowed to purchase an airplane.)

Then there's the "Yes I do have responsibilities" category. Paying bills is like this. Taking sick kitties to the vet -- and, once, having to make that heartwrenching decision to euthanize -- definitely reminds me of my responsibilities. Entering into business contracts with random people hundreds of miles away is like this (oddly enough, my day job doesn't feel like this).

The "I have learned something" category defies description sometimes, but it's the one that brings the most frequent reminders that I'm an adult. I'll read something someone else wrote, or see someone do what I would have done ten years ago, and I will realize that I am definitely not twenty-five any more (much less seventeen). Usually I am very grateful.

Comments

[firecat]

That didn't make me feel like an adult. It just made me feel like I was me, over 18, and thus able to get away with something new.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

That brings out multiple shadings of this question: "what makes you feel like others now perceive you as an adult and you therefore get certain privileges of adulthood" versus "what makes you see yourself as adult or grown-up or responsible".

[joedecker.livejournal.com]

I think I noticed it because the first time I did it I was in my mid-30s.

[firecat]

I was 18. My boyfriend and I had wanted to take a Toronto vacation the summer before we went to college, but I was still 17 then, and the parents said no. So we did it over Christmas break instead. His parents invited my parents over for drinks while we were gone. My parents said that felt really weird.

I guess the semi-disapproval of so many parents was what made it feel like we were getting away with something instead of being adults.