Grown Up?

Though I am in my late twenties, I have a hard time feeling like a grown-up. Each year on the first day of school, I find myself sturggling with the seemingly absurd idea that true grown-ups would trust a class of teenagers to my care. It's just crazy.

One of the areas that I my hestitancy to be a grown up becomes apparent is my contentedness with apartment dwelling. I understand the argument that I am just throwing money away in monthly rent. I just have no desire to own a place. You have to be a grown up to own a home.

This past spring, the observation was made that all of our married friends had a preoccupation with their grass. All discussions would eventually return to the type of seeds they were trying or new methods of riding the yard of crab grass. Now, I will be the first to admit that I am eager to be married; really I can't wait for that day. But at the same time, becoming married seemed to make all of my friends more grown up.

And now the same thing is happening to my single friends. While I was out of the country, the last two renters in my core group of friends, closed on houses of their own. They left me to be the sole apartment dweller. (And now Rebecca is serioulsy considering buying a place and I will just be throwing rent money away to her.) And they have all grown up. On my first full day back to Atlanta, I found myself accompanying two friends to Ikea where they looked at appliances. And then on Friday, Beth F. gave me a full rundown of the kitchen remodel that she is plannig. She asked my advice on things like the cabnitery and paint color. I had nothing to offer. That's grown up stuff.

I guess that my friends are all just going to grow up without me. I suppose that I will just have to resign myself to conversations about home maintanence and neighborhood association fees. As long as I just don't totally revert and move back home, I think that I will be fine.