When did you know you were "grown" up?

[Betarulz!]

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...

[AOX81]

Um, I still don't know!

[LeslieAGD]

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!

[lilsnakeyk]

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.

[KappaTarzan]

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

[winnieb]

As far as accepting it...well...you never really have to do that!

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!!!

[winnieb]

As far as accepting it...well...you never really have to do that!

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

[AGDPrincess70]

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!!

[phimugirlie01]

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).

[aephi alum]

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...

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.

[Dionysus]

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

[OUlioness01]

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.

[RedHotChiO]

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.

[justamom]

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. ( How DO you spell that?)
totaly mature-giving birth
"getting old" The funeral of my friend's husband.