twentysomethings.

in case you didn't know, i have this thing about growing up and discovering adulthood.

i can't shake it.

i think about it every day.

maybe that's because i bought a house at 23 when i was making $16 an hour at a job i landed 6 weeks earlier and i had no idea that in one month's time i had launched myself into a career {five years next month!} AND a house. i was unsure of my job description and the responsibilities of a mortgage were still unknown to me. it was an honest game of monopoly.

but five years later, i've certainly found my groove with the house. done and decorated twice over. roommates galore... until i realized the supreme happiness that is living alone. the job pushes me every day. last week i found myself two levels deep into the "dark side", as the man in charge says. i'm a member of management. {wwwwwhat? me?} after a pretty rigorous audition process, it makes me wonder if there should have been something similar for the 30 year-fixed. oh, wait. there was. it's called a credit check. but at 23 and 8 months out of college, my gap card was about all they had to go on. no wonder the nation has fallen into financial ruin. i digress...

friends - good ones, but mostly poor ones - remind me that i'm an adult and that i don't HAVE to play nice like i did when i was in elementary school, learning to share, etc. quality time is too precious to give up when and where i don't want to. {i type this from my office at 7 p.m., where, for the 3rd time this week, i've heard the 7 o'clock security alarm sound which means the building is going into lock down for the night. in theory, us working folk should've put in our 8 to 5 - even a little extra for the over achievers - and gone home by now. the few and the proud still remain.} quality time is my precious jewel.

all of those things - my house, my friends, my job - ALL OF THOSE THINGS make me an adult, i suppose. i'll admit it today, buti'll fight it tomorrow.

this little gem found its way into my life today and got me all spun up with excitement. it's like crack to my adult-addicted life. read it. please please, pretty PLEASE read it.

there's good news and bad, according to this article.

let's start with the bad:
i fill the following criteria of adulthood:

1/3 of the people in their 20s move to a new residence every year. NO MORE.

40% move back home with their parents. NOPE.

they go through an average of 7 jobs while in their 20s. CAREER FOUND.

all of this means i have escaped the black box of twentysomething-hood. i should graciously accept my medal of honor, settle down, and display it with pride. i guess. i mean, if i have to i will. it's like that time in fourth grade when you're mom made you stand at the fireplace, holding up the spelling bee medal as it hung around your neck, so she could scrapbook her moment of parental pride. as embarassing as it was... you put on your obligatory smile, and posed for the happy picture.

the good, on the other hand:
five "milestones" dictate a "grown up", according to the new york times.

1. completing school. check.

2. leaving home. check.

3. becoming financially independent. check.

4. marrying. UNcheck.

5. having a child. UNcheck.

so maybe i have a little bit of wiggle room left in me before i'm a certified member of the club.

i'd accept my medal of honor, but only if i can find a man who can get past the first milestone.