[aephi alum]

Sen, sorry to hear your bad news. I've been there and done that. That sure made me feel like an adult... a screwed-over adult. But it all worked out in the end.

Animate, ITA. Telling off my father when he tried to get me to break off my engagement, and telling him off again when he tried to get me not to move in with my fiancé because we weren't married yet, definitely made me feel like an adult. It's the whole "I'm not a child any more and I don't have to obey your orders" thing.

Buying our first house is definitely on the list. I remember my husband, at the closing, holding the Big Check (the one that the bank writes, for the cost of the house less our down payment) and shaking like a leaf.

And then there are the usual milestones... moving from my parents' house into my dorm, opening my first bank account, getting my first credit card, voting for the first time, having my first legal drink, moving into my first apartment ("in sin" with my fiancé), starting my first job out of college, buying my first car... the usual stuff.