convo: growned up.
What makes you grown? This question had memories popping off left and right in my mind because I remember playing with toys, playing freeze tag, eating Bontons and watching Saturday morning cartoons never thinking in a million years that that part of my life would end. Even after high school I was still teetering on taking my little fast food job money and spending it on M to the E. And it all went to The Gap. Yet still it wasn’t bills that made me grow up fast…it was getting kicked in the heart by my first breakup…well that…and struggling to keep the lights and gas on in my first Apt. Made me grow like a WEED. So Get Togetha readers…. when did you realize that you were all growned up?
Posted by gt on January 14, 2010
share
Alicia — January 14, 2010 @ 2:22 am
Honestly, it was when my mom told me that I had to make my own dentist appointment. It felt like a kick in the stomach because she ALWAYS made my appointments. I lost it. I didn’t know the phone number and couldn’t imagine why she would think that I did…and then she told me to look it up! Insult to injury is what that was. Ugh. I remember it so vividly.
That was the day, GT. That was the day.
reply
Chic Modern Vintage — January 14, 2010 @ 4:38 am
Let me think back…I was “growed up” when I was 23, with my first apartment and no furniture, not even a chair to sit on. I was sitting on the floor, but I had a bed to sleep in with 1..countem’ one set of sheets. I for sure don’t miss those days at all.
reply
First L8dy — January 14, 2010 @ 10:41 am
I still have not come to that realization. I still watch Saturday morning cartoons … lol… I still watch cartoons period. I recently rented Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs and REALLY enjoyed it! lol AND NO I am not ashamed… LOL… They make me laugh …. laughter is good for the soul… it keeps you young…
However, if anything should have made me realize I was all grown up, it would have been when I no longer received Social Security from my father and all the income of the house depended solely on my paycheck. OR when I actually began to care what was on my credit report and wanted to fix it.
reply
First L8dy — January 14, 2010 @ 10:43 am
P.S. I love love LOVE that photo…. Modern with a hint of Vintage….so sexxy…..
reply
Angel — January 14, 2010 @ 12:29 pm
I don’t think I’ve realized I’m grown yet. Well, part of me has, the other half hasn’t. I think I still can just have other people fix things but I don’t realize I’m the one doing all of the fixing. I think right now, searching for stable jobs and trying to get myself sturdy it’s slowly becoming reality.
reply
Brandie — January 14, 2010 @ 1:37 pm
I still question my “grown up” status but when I had to start paying my school loans, my days of childhood definitely got dealt a MAJOR blow! A complete thing of nightmares!
reply
Simone — January 14, 2010 @ 2:39 pm
When I started earning a paycheck, paying bills and traveling. My college years were a wake up call, but I still have my moments when I remind myself that I am in fact an adult.
reply
Niki — January 14, 2010 @ 4:29 pm
When I got my first F in undergrad. It finally hit me that there are REAL consequences to your actions and no matter what your issues are, only you are responsible for your own well being and success!!
reply
Danielle — January 14, 2010 @ 5:49 pm
I’m still struggling with this. Sure I have my own apt., a day job to pay bills/fuel my true passion, went to college, have bills to pay, file my own taxes, pay my bills, regularly check my credit report, and did I mention all these momoflocking bills I pay?! On the other hand, I eat cereal for dinner pretty regularly, watch cartoons all the time, don’t wear make-up (don’t know how!), live in jeans and chucks and make immature jokes at leisure. (For example, I ALWAYS laugh when the news mentions Dick Armey. HA!) So I don’t know. Sometimes I feel old, sometimes I still feel like the kid eating Rice Krispies with too much sugar watching ReBoot and Looney Tunes and the Soul Train on Saturday mornings. Sigh…
reply
TJ — January 14, 2010 @ 6:46 pm
One day, when my oldest was four or five, I had fallen asleep on the couch and I heard somebody calling, “Mommy! Mommmeeee!!!” I was thinking, somebody needs to get their child. Then I realized, oh, that’s my child. I’m mommy. I guess that means I’m a grownup, huh? LOLOL.
I had a friend tell me that you’re grown when you can provide for yourself and truly appreciate the contributions of those who made your journey possible. I think I’d add that governing one’s self with responsibility and accountability for one’s choices go a long way toward being an adult, too.
reply
Shell — January 14, 2010 @ 6:53 pm
The day I moved into my home. My mom was leaving and said she call me when she got home. As soon as she left, I burst into tears. I realized we didn’t live together any more. She had her own space and I had mine. I realized I was truly an adult woman.
reply
Moni — January 14, 2010 @ 9:16 pm
I could say it was when i went to live on my own or started paying my own bills but even though I was 32 years old, I really knew I was grown after my mother died. She had died from cancer and three weeks after her death I caught the flu. I was so sick. My mother was the type that she would be there in a heartbeat if you weren’t feeling well. I lived by myself then, but mom had a key, so if I was sick, here she comes with orange juice, chicken soup and castor oil (as if). Well, I’m sick and I realize that she’s not there to give me a glass of juice. Honey I realized that I was completely grown and had to learn how to take care of myself because the one who looked out for me was no longer there to catch me if something went wrong or if I wanted to call her to share a laugh or a complaint about something. I never cried as hard as I did that day. I tear up thinking about it now.
reply
Megan Jeyifo — January 15, 2010 @ 10:39 am
Ha! This is going to sound incredibly ridiculous, but this past December, I tipped my dog walker for Christmas. The fact that I am a crazy person head over heels in love with my dog that also happens to work near 60 hrs a week should be noted as the reason for the walker, btw. When I wrote out that (small) check to this twenty year-old ‘kid,’ I truly felt like an adult. Strange, huh?
I felt less like an adult this morning when my husband told me he had made my dental appt and, in great detail, relayed all that I need to get done (hello, privacy laws anyone?!). It waxes and wanes.
reply
kristine — January 16, 2010 @ 1:22 pm
I realize and then forget I’m an adult all the time. I think the most apparent realization came one day while I stood in the waiting room of the hospital after checking my husband in for chest pains and dizziness. They asked who I was and I stood there saying I was his wife. It hit me like a brick – I’m someone’s wife and here I stand as an adult filling out medical forms and looking for health insurance cards… It was a trip.
Meanwhile most days it’s me in jeans and chuck taylors, sipping Starbucks and feeling like a kid…
reply
gt — January 19, 2010 @ 1:56 am
Love all of your shares…being grown up is real…
reply
Airfrais — January 23, 2010 @ 5:06 am
I realised I was a grow up when I realised that my mom was gone for good. Several months after she died, just very recently.
There were no turning back, no way out. I had to face it. As a paradox i used to be obsessed -and depressed- for being single and without a child before this sort of “epiphany”. But then -meanning now-, I’ve also learned to prioritise my goals in life…
And it’s like : stop focusing and wasting time on what you can’t change in your life but act/move and fight for what you can bend/change/upgrade, etc…
reply
lelechigyrl — January 29, 2010 @ 2:19 pm
I believe I realized I was grown when my mom relocated her life to another state. I felt a sense of freedom and fear all at once. I also realized I was grown when I had to pay my bills and make a home for myself. The maturity level goes through the ruff when you realize hey this is mine! I pay the cost to be the boss! Great question. Had me going back to remember great lessons! Love your site by the way.
reply