Feelin' Like an Adult

Today is the hubby's 27th birthday. TWENTY-SEVEN!! Now to me, a young 24 year old, 27 seems awfully old. It is just three years from 30, afterall. I like to tease the hubby about the fact that he's almost three years older than me. No matter how old I get, he'll always be older. He says he's got the real deal with me around to always be his younger woman :)

Anyways, Dave's birthday got me thinking about the moments that remind me that I'm really an adult now. Yes, I know I've been an adult for six years now (oh goodness, now that realization makes me feel old) but with each birthday that passes, I realize more and more than my youthful days are truly over.

So what reminds me most that I am an adult now?

1. Paying bills. You name it, I pay it (okay, we pay it). Car insurance, health insurance, energy bills, cable, student loans. Something about writing a check for all these bills that really makes me feel like an adult. All those years of fawning those payments off on the parentals are certainly gone.
2. Owning a Home. Maintaining a home. Paying the mortgage each month. I'm not sure it gets any more adult than that.
3. Eating healthy. Yes, I've finally started to watch what I eat. Not only for the fact that my waist isn't the size zero it was in high school but also because I want to be healthy and lower my risk of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and all those other health conditions associated with poor eating habits. Plus, Ramen Noodles and Kraft Mac N' Cheese don't taste so good anymore.
4. Being asked where I saw myself in ten years during a job interview. Hmmmm. I have always hated this question. I still feel young enough to fend off this question with a nonsense answer but that's probably not what the interviewer was looking for. And he probably didn't want to hear the real truth - that in ten years I really just see myself with a house full of biological and adopted children. I really have no career ambition other than to be a mommy at this point.
5. Not having summer vacation. This is my second summer working full-time and I think it's finally sinking in that the days of summer vacation are gone for this girl. I should've been a teacher.
6. Refusing to buy beer for my little brother. I know, I'm so uncool. Obviously I don't want to be responsible for supplying the booze if the shenanigans he pulls end him in trouble. He thinks I'm a mean sister. To each their own.
7. Struggling to stay awake until the 10 o'clock news. Enough said.
8. Spending more time at Home Depot than the mall. Even more, spending all my money at Home Depot instead of the mall. Did I mention that owning a home is expensive?
9. Yelling at the teenagers driving past our house to slow down. Suddenly I feel like my father.
10. Finding out you're pregnant (and having a miscarriage). While girls certainly get pregnant at young ages these days, for me the real defining moment of adulthood in the past year was finding out I was going to be a mother and then losing the baby. I felt the instantaneous unconditional love and heartbreak that only a mother could.

What makes you feel like a real adult? Or are you still living in denial that you're really not ready to grow up yet? I've been there. We all have. But so many of those reasons that make me feel like an adult are absolutely wonderful things... owning a home, being married, starting a family. I suppose I could dwell on the fact that my summer breaks are over and that I'll always have bills to pay but instead I'll celebrate each birthday and embrace the fact that this woman ain't getting any younger!

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!! Here's to growing old together :)