Sad Things About Growing Up...

TV: Law & Order: CI (Bravo)

WARNING: This is kind of long an self serving; there is no guarantee of humor.

So I am 22, and I am kind of a grown up now. I mean I am married, I have a dog, have bought a house, my husband helps coach a high school basketball team, so I must be kind of grown up. And I don't feel particularly grown up sometimes. When people are teen agers they spend quite a bit of time thinking about hew great it will be when they grow up, and I am here to tell you that it isn;t all it is cracked up to be. I mean sure there is some cool stuff about being an adult, but there is also some junky stuff.
Like jobs. Now I don't have a job per ce, but I can imagine having a job (which, as a teenager, I didn't need at all) and it is not a pretty picture. Getting up at 7 (or earlier!!), driving for maybe an hour, and then looking at the list of things you have to do or else there will be no money for food, or a roof, or water, or whatever. See as a teenager, unless your family has hit hard times, you don't necessarily have to earn money. You sure can, if you want to, but you don't have to. Then while you are at your job you are told what to do, you can't go pee with out some HR guy timing you and people are always asking for status reports. Not my idea of a fun time.
Then there is food. When you live with your parents food is kind of a non-issue. There is a pretty good chance there is some kind of food in your house, maybe even left overs (if you are lucky). When I lived with my parents I maybe had to make lunch for myself , and whatever snack I wanted. Dinner was always taken care of. As an adult who has to live on a budget (no eating out every night) I have to cook dinner almost every night. It gets so boring. If anything the meals are what I miss most about my parents house.
One's social life is also something that maybe isn't as cool as the media makes it out to be. If TV is to be believed if you are over 20 there is a party every night, and more on the weekends. TV tells us that if you are a cool adult you will have a sweet coffee shop with your own special couch, or a book store where people know your name, or somewhere else to hang out that is hip and cool and where cute guys will pick you up. I wish life was like that.
By my senior year of high school I had alot of friends and some of them did go on to have cool, hip lives. Some of them go to cool Halloweeen parties and some of them are in bands. But those are just a few. Alot of the people I grew up with moved on to completely different lives than they wanted. Some of them are unwed mothers, some of them became criminals. I lost touch with most of them, some of them I miss, others I couldn't care less. I am not sure what my point is, but I think it probably has something to do with the same cheesy line of don't waste your childhood. Eat the meals your parents cook, take advantage of the times your friends ask you to hang out, and make the most of your free time, because I promise you, it is important, and it is fleeting.