[DeltAlum]

The good news is that later you won't remember too many specifics. But here's what I do remember.

You're out of the High School/College party hearty age, out in the workforce, but not yet making great wages and still have all of the bills and responsibilities. You start realizing that you thought you were an adult several years ago, but didn't really understand the ramifications of that. You also begin realizing that life is passing a little more quickly than you really want it to.

If you have children, that exaserbates the problems even more -- especially the finances and lack of personal time. What is really scary is that you find out that your parents were right about a whole lot of stuff.

Later on, you will face a whole new set of problems, but maybe you get used to dealing with them and they don't hit as hard. Experience is a good, but tough teacher. At least that's the way it is for some, I think most, of us.

One good thing is that for a lot of us it isn't as important to be "right" all of the time. Maybe that's because we realize that we aren't.

In terms of chronological age, I found my 25th birthday to be the one that struck me most. Thirty, forty and even fifty didn't have as much impact on me as that "quarter of a century."

Sorry for the rambling, but as I said earlier, the specifics are like pain -- you don't really remember it/them.