When did you know you were "grown" up?
 

The thread about missing childhood got me to thinking about the stuff that I do enjoy about not being a little kid now. Like driving.

That got me thinking about those little times when it was like "hey, i'm my own person now"

So the question is, what little incident (not something major) made you realize you were really becoming more independent?

For me, and this sounds kinda stupid, but it was summer between my junior and senior year of HS. My friend got some awesome seats to the KC Royals game that afternoon, and so we drove out there, just hung out and watched the Royals win. What really struck me was that I just went and bought whatever type of food I wanted at the ballpark. All those times of having to ask my dad if I could get this or that were gone and it rocked!!! I probably ended up spending 20-25 bucks on food that day...

Um, I still don't know!

I probably realized I was "grown up" somewhere between my fifteenth birthday and my first day of college. As far as accepting it...well...you never really have to do that! :p

I came to this very realization for the first time just the other day. I have just moved away from my beloved Long Beach :( , and I was out shopping for a refridgerator, and the sales guy asked me why I had moved to Redding.

It really struck me when I responded "For my career," because grown-ups move some where for their career, and the choice is fully theirs. While most kids/college students move where their impulses or parents lead them.

i was driving my car my senior year of HS and i stopped and thought to myself "i am in my own car, going to see my friends, coming home whenever i want... cool."
also, when i first got my license i felt like a little kid playing with a big kids toy. it was fun :)

Thank God for that!!!! :) :) :)
I know I am a grown up--at least it appears that way--- I still cringe when I get called ma'am at the store. I still smile everytime I get carded to buy alcohol.
I live in the same town I grew up with-I am still very close to many people I have been friends with since jr high--there are times we will all be sitting around gossiping--and think--damn we were doing this when we were 16----it is kind of nice not having to always act like a responsible adult!!!

Thank God for that!!!! :) :) :)
I know I am a grown up--at least it appears that way--- I still cringe when I get called ma'am at the store. I still smile everytime I get carded to buy alcohol.
I live in the same town I grew up with-I am still very close to many people I have been friends with since jr high--there are times we will all be sitting around gossiping--and think--damn we were doing this when we were 16----it is kind of nice not having to always act like a responsible adult!!!

-Wendi

I'm an instructor for my high school's marching band. One night they were at a competition and I was walking aroudn with some of the other insturctors when I heard someone calling my name. It was my friend's little sister, who was a freshman in one of the bands. I've known her since she was like 7, so it was weird seeing her in the marching band. That's when i realized--I was really old!!

I knew I had grown up when I was 16 and my parents went through an extremely nasty divorce. I realized that they weren't the perfect people I thought they were, and I learned some things about them that I would've rather not known.

I also knew I was growing up when I started crying silently so no one can hear me instead of wailing like there's no tommorow.

And of course there's the whole going to college thing along with making doctor's appointments for myself when I'm sick and riding on airplanes all by myself (I was SO scared).

I think I realized I was "grown up" when my parents dropped me off at college at the beginning of my freshman year. Suddenly, for the first time in my life, everything was up to me - no more "No TV until your homework is finished" or "Eat your vegetables" or "Clean your room." For the first time in my life, I had the freedom to set my own schedule and priorities. (Priority one: Buy a day planner! :) )

Now, if only my *parents* would realize I've grown up... :rolleyes:

I felt like I was a 'grown up' many different times:

-when I made my first car payment
-when I made my first car insurance payment
-getting my first credit card statement
-teaching my first freshman seminar class
-seeing my 'little' cousins graduate from high school

But this was the real big one...

Finally realizing that a lot of what my mom used to tell me [IT'S FOR YOUR OWN GOOD!] was true...and it started to make sense. I find myself telling my nieces and nephew that now.

When I stepped out of my car to walk to my first college class.

when my grandmother told me over the summer that the kids were gign to eat outside and the adults were eating at the kitchen table, and then told me that i was considered an adult. i think it was someone else's recognition of my being an adult that made me realize it.

I felt really old once I realized that the new teen idols that were popping up were actually younger than me. You know, you spend your whole childhood pining after Kirk Cameron and suddenly you're older than Justin Timberlake. :(

old-borrowed $1,000 from a bank to prepare to work in KC.
older-the first time I was called "Mamme" at he grocery store. (:confused: How DO you spell that?)
totaly mature-giving birth
"getting old" The funeral of my friend's husband.

Omigosh, JAM, you're echoing my thoughts again.

mature--at a grocery store in Hawaii when some little kid screamed, "Mommy! That LADY smiled at me!"

totally mature--lying on the delivery table with my newborn daughter, thinking, "I am a MOTHER now. I couldn't be a mother! But I am!"

getting old--attending funerals of peers

i went back to valdosta for a wedding of a friend of mine. . .
and i made 3 of my friends drive down with me. . .
and everyone decided to go out to the club that night. . .
and when we got to rick's, it was packed
but me and my friends were the only ones dressed like we were out for a night on the town. . .
guys kept walking up to us saying 'you're not from here, are you?'
i explained that i had went to school there my freshman year
and they kept commenting how nice we were dressed
and i was like, 'well, i live in the city and we ALWAYS dress up to go out. . .everyone here wears black pants and an Express top. . .that is so freshman year. . .'

then, i stopped and realized. . .oh my goodness, listen how snobby and grown-up you sound. . .

I felt "grown up" when I had to fill out a 1040EZ form for the first time, when I had my first apartment, and when I had my first real relationship.

Just wait until you can't use 1040EZ anymore. Then you're grown up :) (this will be my first time!)

I got a big dose of how I've aged today when I yelled at a kid at work to leave something alone. I sounded just like my father. What the Hell.

I work with high schoolers, so I am constantly reminded that I am not a kid anymore. I even catch myself every once in a while saying, "Well, when I was in high school..."

Having high schoolers call you ma'am at 24, that'll make you feel old really quick.

most days i'm still waiting to feel grown up...

i suppose when i get married and have a baby, i may finally feel grown up... lol

Quite a while back, visiting a male friend in the town where he teaches high school, we ran into a bunch of his kids. These were high school juniors or seniors, and we were (at the time) only 22 and 27 respectively, so we're not even that much older than them.

But the kids walked up to me and my (unmarried) friend, and said "Hi Mr. Smits... oh... you must be Mrs. Smits!" and hearing whispers in the background "That's his wife!"

What really ground it in was that I actually was engaged to him for a while :o

the realization of growing up hit me when by best friend from high school decided to leave me and make a new identity for herself and is now getting married. we used to be so close that my identity was dependent upon hers. so i had to become my own person. that was hard. i still dont like too much. oh well. gotta grow up.

Getting in a car accident this year and not having Momma and Daddy to take care of everything. I had to deal with the cop and the insurance, and make the decisions without having anyone to fall back on.

I also got to utter the infamous: "Charge me or let me go!"

That'll make anyone grow up right fast.

~Emma

"ma'am" (It's a contraction of 'Madam').

For me, I guess the first time I could consider myself 'grown up' was going to college. And it was a very tough time getting used to doing things on your own after 18 or so years of having things done for you.

A few years back, when my chapter rechartered, we had the celebration to end all celebrations. I was probably one of the soberest ones in the house - while my new undergraduate brethren were slamming down beers like there was no tomorrow, I nursed my beer for the longest time (at least until it became too warm to drink) and watch the undergrads get thoroughly FUBAR in no time.

The watchword for the alumni at the rechartering weekend was 'oh... to be eighteen and stupid again!' Realizing that it was only about 10-15 years since we were undergrads. And 10-15 years experience in the game of life is enough to sober up many a person.

The first time I had to testify in court. I was working as a social worker and had to testify about child's parent. Even though she wanted her son she wasn't capable of caring for him.

-When I got my own insurance card. It had only my name and not DEPENDENT with my father's name.

-When my friends and I got rear ended by a Semi tractor trailer and I called my parents to tell them. They drove an hour to be with me and then... my friends drove me back to school and my parents went home. God how I cried for my momma that week!

-When my boyfriend and I were out about two weeks ago and this little girl said "Momma look at the man and woman, they are holding hands like you and daddy do". WOW!

-When I realized that I am no longer looking for a boyfriend because he is cute or popular but because he can be emotionally stable for me and ambition is sexier anyway.

When I spent $500 on a washer and dryer instead of a new stereo.

Ooo! Oh yeah, the big moment that occurs when you yell at a kid and you sound like your parent! On my honor, this happens to everyone.

A lot have things have made me realize that I've grown up a lot(I'm only 20 though...so guess I got a ways to go still :D):

--When I first got a car(parents wouldn't let me get one until I was a freshman in college) and realized I could take myself anywhere I wanted to go.

--I'm on Xmas break and I'm at home... and telemarketers think *I'm* the mom instead of asking for the head of the house. Really makes me feel old!

--Being able to admit I was at fault instead of trying to blame someone else.

--The first time I made my own doctor's appointment.

--My first job.

--My first time filing my taxes.

--My first day at college. It dawned on me that I could do ANYTHING I wanted, stay up as LATE as I wanted, EAT whatever I wanted to, and not have to report back to anyone about when I would be home. The first night in my dorm room, I actually ate pretzels, a Twinkie, and a Dr. Pepper for dinner, just because I could. :D And I stayed up until 3am with a friend I had just made(who is a close friend still), just because I could. :D

But more than anything, these have made me realize that I've matured so much since college began:

--Letting friends know (either by telling them or by writing it on my message board outside my door) where I'm going and when I'll be back, just in case.

--eating at Subway instead of McDonalds, and buying fruit and veggies to snack on in my room, and switching to diet sodas because I realized that, while I'm independant and CAN eat whatever I want, it makes more sense to do what my mom taught me all these years and to have a healthy, well-balanced diet.

--to sum it up, when I started finally doing what my mom advised me to do all my life and realize that she was right all along. :D

I realized that I had grown up when I got a bad concussion my first month of college and had to go to the ER, and then realizing that my parents were a state away. And then 2 days later when I passed out at rush and had to be in the ambulance by myself back to the ER. Not a good week. But it made me more careful of myself!

It's funny because I'm older than most of you here, but I really still don't feel like an official adult. When I'm getting in a suit for work (on the days I actually wear suits) I more often than not feel like I'm playing "dress up" and pretending to be a grown up.