Being an adult

Two of the hallmarks of being an adult.  Taxes and signing papers.  I did both this week.

The former of course comes around every year and can’t be avoided.  At least no one has come up with a plausible way yet.  With a primal regularity I’ve been going through the process since I was 17 and I expect to have to do this around 50 more times before I’m done.

The latter involved reading and signing a bunch of papers to first transfer ownership of my old car as part of a trade in deal and then of course paying for my new car.  I don’t quite remember how many papers I had to sign for my first car but I’m sure it wasn’t this many.

Neither of these was a glamorous and in fact they were rather monotonous events but I find that a good portion of being an adult really involves just getting on with taking charge of all the little niggling details of life.  Kids usually go on and on about how cool things will be when they’re adults but really they don’t realize what it takes to keep things going as an adult.

One of my pet peeves involves being at a party or a gathering with an artist or a speaker or someone who has just done something impressive and someone complimenting that person by saying “I want to be you when I’m an adult”.  Firstly because the person usually saying is an adult but mostly cause this really misses the mark of what it is to be an adult.

Being an adult mainly involves accepting responsibilities, putting up and keeping up with a lot of tiny but important details, and just managing to outlast life when things get tough.

Sure there are lots of cool things you can do when you’re an adult.  But if you want to do those cool things it usually means you have to do many other things you would rather not do.  It means not just grudgingly but almost gladly accepting that these details are at the heart of what it means to be an adult.

Being an adult means responsibility.