I thought that the first time I would feel like an adult would have been when I entered college and left home, my friends, my family, and everything behind. I would have thought I would have felt like an adult the first time I had to make my own appointments, earn my own money to pay bills, and go to Wal-Mart myself.
I thought that big and significant events in my life would have made me feel like the adult I am becoming, yet here I am, one week until I turn 20 years old, and it is the insignificant events that make me feel more “grown up” than anything.
The first time calling AAA.
Sitting on the phone with this random person and being able to explain to him what was wrong with my car to get help created a strange epiphany. I was “grown up” enough to be able to tell someone who spends their life working with cars what was actually wrong with my car. There was no turning to my grandfather to supply the answer or assistance from Google or Siri to answer my questions, I knew I had to explain to this man what was wrong, and I did.
Buying an ice cube tray.
Ice was just something that we always had in the freezer. To have to buy my own ice cube tray to make my own ice cubes was like being plowed down by a tidal wave of “adultness." I did not feel that way when I first bought hangers, or superglue, or light bulbs; for some reason, it was the ice cube tray. Unwrapping that $1.98 ice cube tray, I felt like a home owner, not a college student.
Getting air freshener and hand soap for the bathroom.
I had purchased room deodorizers before, but there was something about it being specifically for my bathroom back home that made me feel like an adult. No one else was going to buy it, so I had to do it myself. I was not okay with the house smelling like droppings or for hands to go unwashed. If there is anything in the world that annoys me, it is unsupplied bathrooms. One should always have toilet paper, air freshener, and hand soap.
Paying for my tuition.
I had to work all summer without touching a single penny of my paychecks to be able to pay for my next semester of college and bills. If that did not make me feel like an adult, then I don’t know what could. It was the most “grown-up” thing I have ever done. Despite my dad telling me to go buy things with my paychecks, I put them towards my future. Receiving that “payment received” notification made me feel more like an adult than anything.
It was not the "big" things that proved to me that I was growing up.
Having to do things by myself and for myself showed me that I was becoming an adult. It is scary, and I am not ready for it, but I did buy the ice cube tray, so I am at least acknowledging the omnipresent future.
