Adult?

This week I've been running into a lot of things that make me feel like an adult, but also things that make me feel like I'm still a kid. I think it's time to share with you all that list.

Things that make me feel like an adult:
1. Getting up early on a Saturday. Regularly. Without much grumbling.
2. Buying bus tokens.
3. Choosing to stay in on a Saturday night and watch movies instead of going out with my friends. 4. Carrying an umbrella.
5. I am most likely not going home for Easter this year, since my parents will be out of town visiting my grandparents (which is 5.5 hours away from State College, too far for a weekend trip that includes homework). I will be eating Easter brunch with friends here from grad school.
6. The thought: "I used to be in college once."
7. Hearing the freshman girls I do ballet with talk about things like their dorm rooms and friends from high school and Calc I and getting excited about little things like what there was for dinner at the dining commons. And remembering that I was once that girl.
8. Getting involved in a church, and not a student-run ministry. Knowing the pastor.
9. Holding a baby at church this morning, and realizing that my mommy was just a tiny bit older than my age when she first held me. Scary, that thought was.
10. Having a boyfriend.
11. Talking about taxes. Wishing my parents hadn't claimed me as a dependent (they still can until I'm 24, since I made that great decision to come to grad school) so I could have gotten a better refund.
12. Thinking about health insurance for next year. And how I should really start making my own dentist/doctor/eye appointments instead of just doing them when I go home for breaks.
13. Car insurance. Oh, and the fact that I OWN a car. It's in my name. I bought it. I also paid lots of money to get it fixed a few months ago. And I know how to change its oil.
14. Having a couch in my living room that is actually comfortable and seats more than 2 people. 15. I have a COLLEGE DEGREE. With that comes the realization that if I were to fail out of grad school tomorrow, I would be perfectly okay, and could probably find a good job.
16. Having friends who are married and have kids and houses and real jobs.
17. I am 23. Seriously. Makes me feel old.

Things that make me feel like I haven't grown up yet:
1. I carry a backpack with me 90% of the time.
2. I still go to classes. My primary title is still "student." I do homework a lot.
3. I have no problems with going out in public in sweat pants.
4. The fact that I cried at work on Thursday night. No, not cried, sobbed. Somewhat uncontrollably. For no reason other than I was stressed about my 2 homework assignments due the next morning that I wasn't going to have time to finish.
5. My daddy did my taxes for me.
6. I am still a member of my parents' health insurance plan.
7. Feeding ice cream to squirrels last weekend.8. Standing outside in the rain for the sake of a football game, and running back to my car in flip-flops and 45-degree weather.
9. My car has duct-tape holding the window shut. But it probably will also be running for a long time. Unlike my last car.

I guess I am still in that in-between-not-quite-an-adult-but-definitely-no-longer-a-kid-anymore stage of my life. I hope that I always keep some sort of kid inside me, but to be fully an adult will probably be somewhat of a relief. In one year, I graduate. For good. No more of this school crap. Maybe someday in the future I'll live somewhere permanently, with a husband and 2.5 kids and a dog and a job and a car without duct-taped windows. The scary thing is, I don't know how far away that future is. We shall see.

:-)