Adventures in Adulthood.

In my humble opinion, growing up is kind of a strange phenomenon. I mean, obviously the system works and with the exception of Peter Pan we all do eventually grow up, but sometimes I wonder if we ever really feel like a bona-fide, true grown up. Sure, there are plenty of things going on in my life that remind me I’m an adult. The bills alone –all those lovely bills that come addressed solely to me – remind me of my adulthood on a monthly basis. My friends and I have steady jobs, we live in cities or out in the country on our own, we rent or own homes, some of us marry, and some of us are parents ourselves.

Every once in awhile, usually in the middle of a discussion with my boss or when interacting with a store employee (usually a “kid” who is at least ten years younger than me) I’m struck by the fact that they never knew me as a child or as an awkward tween or even as a college student. They know me only as an adult – or, maybe in the case of those high school kids working the register at Target – as just plain old. See, in my head, I sometimes still feel like that scrawny middle-schooler that we all were once, the girl that adults didn’t take seriously because she was “just a kid.” Now, even at 30, I sometimes surprise myself by playing devil’s advocate at work if I disagree with a decision or by pushing back if a clerk isn’t treating me the way a customer is supposed to be treated. In those situations, what shocks me even more than the fact that suddenly I’m old enough to be a person who does those sorts of things is the fact that someone actually pays attention when I do them.

Earlier this winter my friends and I rented a ski house for a weekend. My girlfriend Erin and I organized the event, sending emails to our group, finding a place to stay, and collecting money for the weekend. When Erin contacted the man renting the condo he told her that there had also been another group that wanted the place for the same weekend, but that he’d opted for our group because we were all professional, working women in our 30’s. I laughed when Erin told me this because, ha! really? I swear we were a bunch of college kids drinking cheap beer just the other day.

What really blew my mind with the whole ski house thing, however, was that we were just able to, well, do it. No one had to check with their parents to get the okay, or ask if they could borrow the car for the weekend, or make sure it was alright if so-and-so drove. That’s the kind of thing that boggles my adult brain once in awhile. Suddenly – and of course it feels sudden – we’re all just "old enough," no questions asked.

Yes, you do some crazy things when you’re "old enough." For instance, you and a friend might start talking about wanting to take a trip together. The two of you could possibly start emailing about pros and cons regarding certain destinations. And then, once you’ve narrowed your travel choices down, you just might meet for drinks and begin to plan an itinerary for touring a certain country. And then, possibly, you both start watching airfare and figuring out what calendar dates work for the two of you to travel. So when that really good airfare pops up for ten days at the end of May? You can look at each other, mentally freak out just a tiny bit about plunking down that charge onto your credit card, and then – in that very next moment – you can just do it. As a 30 year old, responsible, working adult who really answers to no one but yourself? You can smile with your friend and then you can go ahead and book that round-trip ticket to Ireland.

Even if you still feel like you should go ahead and ask your parent’s permission first.