reminder to myself: I'm a grown-up

[found here via Pinterest]

It's time that I take myself more seriously.

I'm 27 years old.  I can drive, vote, smoke, drink, gamble, rent a car without having to pay extra, serve in the House of Representatives, join the military without parental consent, and marry without parental consent.

In other words: do whatever I want.

I've graduated from high school and college.  I've gotten married.  I've moved out of my mom's house (thanks to getting married).  I've had the same job for the last two-plus years.  I've been a volunteer this past year and in years before that.  I've read books.  I've struggled and prayed and grown.  I've talked and listened.  I've laughed and cried.  I've spoken my mind and kept my mouth shut.  I've created and loved and reminisced.

In other words: lived.

I have things to bring to the table.  It may not be as much as someone who has lived twice as long as I have, but it is something.  I've been created with gifts and abilities just like anyone else, and my specific combination of those things is unique (just like everyone else, ha).  I've lived through experiences that have taught me important things.  I have passions and dreams and hopes.

Somehow I need to stop thinking that I'm a kid in an adult's body.  Will I always feel this way?  Will I always feel inferior to other adults, even those my age?

I remember feeling like such an adult when I opened my first checking account and had my first book of checks.  I remember one night during my first year of college that we stayed out till the wee hours of the morning just because we could.  I remember going on my first vacation with my friends.  I remember the day I got my first credit card in the mail (no longer my proudest moment).  I remember working in my first office in my first cubicle, having my first card key for the building and a personal extension.  I remember getting my first car.  I remember the day I finally graduated from college.  I remember the day I married my love and moved in with him.  I remember two days after that when I signed my first lease and the day after that when we moved into our first apartment.  (The next status-markers are having a baby and buying a house, not necessarily in that order.)

All of those moments were such "adult" milestone moments for me.  Some of them are silly, some are legitimate adult-like things to do.  In those moments, I felt like I had arrived to adulthood.  Yet most days, I feel like if I was really an adult, I would have more of an idea of what I'm doing.  But I'm thinking now that a lot of adults don't really know what they're doing.  Most of us are just trying to figure it out as we go.  This doesn't make us kids.  This doesn't make me a kid.

It's time for me to hold my head high and know that even though I may have a long way to go, I have come a long way in my 27 years.