When did you realize that you had grown up?

[Evadman]

see sig.

 

[shortylickens]

A couple different times the thought occured to me.
Usually not when I do something but when I notice how other people percieved me.

There was one time when I was 18 and I was walking along the street. Some kids were doing something (I dont know what) and I guess it was bad because when they saw me they stopped and looked guilty. I could only assume I looked like a grown-up at that point, even though I was 5'3", 115 and freshly shaven.

Then there was a recent conversation just after my 27th birthday. Was BS'ing with one of the gals at my local coffee shop. Somehow we got on the subject of relationships and I said it was difficult to meet nice girls. She said "well yeah, I'm married and all these other girls are 18".
I didnt realize it until someone told me but apparently I was now cutoff from a certain group of girls. That sucked when it finally hit me. So I guess that sort of made me more grown up.

Then there was Kosovo and the middle east but I prefer not to dwell on such things now that I'm a civilian again.

 

[SagaLore]

Its the wrong question for me. Past puberty, I've always been "grown up", but just inexperienced. Now that I'm 26, I'm finally loosening up and have a chance to "grown down", and get to do some stuff I never did as a child.

 

[PHiuR]

when i stopped caring about smoking weed.

 

[BrownTown]

Im 21 and not quite there yet. But the closest I've gotten so far was when I worked the last 2 summers in a small cubicle at an engineering company and realised that I would probably be spending the next 30 years of my life working in cubicles, and I was perfectly fine with that!

My whole life I could never even conceive of how it could ever be possible that there would come a time in my life where I was expected to go to work 5 days a week and be productive enough that a company though they should spend tens of thousands of dollars just to have my skills. It only took a few weeks of work to realise that I really could make a living by working, and that the people around my were very similar to me, just a few years older.

 

[Excelsior]

Originally posted by: NL5
I'll let you know.......

 

[soydios]

Every few years, I look back as little as twelve months and realize what I dumbass I was. The further I look back, then I dumber I seem to have been. Then, I realize that a couple years in the future, I'll look back on right now, and call myself a dumbass.

 

[Flyback]

I agree with GeekDrew. Mostly a series of milestones that stick out.

- Dropping out of high school
- Getting my first house at age 19
- College (final semester, 4.0 cumulative GPA FTW)

Dropping out of high school was the largest single experience that did it, though. Going in to sign the papers and knowing it was my own decision felt pretty empowering at the time. Do I regret it? Yes and no. I'm ahead of most people my age and happy where life took me after that day. I think I value education much more because I dropped out and got to see the real world without an education. Such is why I overcompensated in college and went through hell for a 4.0

 

[Martin]

I can't quite answer that. There have been many moments when I've thought that I'm older. At the same time, I used to be so self-conscious and uptight that I didn't do "normal" things until later, like I didn't even try pot until I was 21, didn't have the dorm-style party life and trips to the hospital because of booze until 22 etc.

 

[PHiuR]

Originally posted by: soydios
Every few years, I look back as little as twelve months and realize what I dumbass I was. The further I look back, then I dumber I seem to have been. Then, I realize that a couple years in the future, I'll look back on right now, and call myself a dumbass.

I've been doing that since middle school.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

Can't really say. Even a 4.0 CGPA in my BS didn't do it for me

 

[Scouzer]

I moved 3 hours from home to be an Air Traffic Controller after 5 months living 3000km from home for the training.

May not be grown up, yet...but it removed me from all my friends and youth pleasures. It was a turning point of my life, regardless of actually being grown up.

 

[djheater]

Probably a few months after my first child was born.

 

[Conky]

Probably hair in places I didn't want hair.

 

[Philippine Mango]

Sometime sophmore year in highschool, something happened and I can't remember what but thats when I realized I really wasn't a kid anymore.

Believe it or not.

 

[Fike]

Walking into my mother's condo and finding her dead.

That'll do it.

 

[child of wonder]

For me it was this past year. I had graduated from Tech school with an AAS in Networking Administration. I was hired on as a Systems Admin where I work now, got my family a nice new house. Then I began to notice how immature and infantile many of my relatives were, such as my mother in law, sister in law, and sister.

Pretty soon it hit me... "I'm a father of 2, married for 3 years, have my own house, great job, saving for 401k, don't go out anymore, quit smoking, make responsible decisions, etc., etc..... holy sh*t!!"

 

[MercenaryForHire]

"Grown" implies past tense. I won't be finished growing until I'm dead.

- M4H

 

[Qwest]

when the ol 401k started.

 

[GasX]

It's not a destination, it's a process that you mark by certain events such as:

Getting hit with emergency expenses and sucking it up
buying a house
having something go wrong in your house and not having a landlord to call to deal with it
taking care of a hospitalized wife
bringing babies home from the hospital

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

Originally posted by: Fike
Walking into my mother's condo and finding her dead.
That'll do it.

:shocked: Wow...

 

[TheGizmo]

last week, i ****** you not... after finishing an 84 hour workweek and not being able to have friends over after the 6th day because I needed.. get this.. I needed... SLEEP what the fvck kind of excuse is that (thats what i'd always say anyway)

 

[j00fek]

Originally posted by: krunchykrome
When the idea of me staying home on a friday night watching tv seemed more appealing than going out clubbing or drinking at bars.

QFT

 

[SirChadwick]

Originally posted by: pontifex
i'm 26 and still waiting

 

[Lola]

When we (bf, now husband and I) had to buy our own toilet paper for our first apartment. We were 18 and that was it. That one second standing in Target holding the package of Charmin made me realize we were grown up.