This Post Grad Life: Adult Moments

Brittany - University of Saint Thomas — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 18:00:22 +0000

This last Saturday, I woke up at promptly 10:30 a.m. stretched like a cat in my comfy, fluffy girl-bed, got up slowly and wandered into my kitchen for some toast. My feet were cold against my linoleum floor, my eyes were still a little sleepy and a soft breeze blew my crack-head bed hair into my eyelashes. And you know what I did after that?

I cleaned out my refrigerator. I even used Windex.

This is what I would like to call a “grown-up moment.” Times like these (where I clean out moldy chicken salad from my refrigerator door) are small adult moments. And trust me, I have big ones too. Why do I want to share them with you? Well, when I was in college – where washing a single dish, “tweaking” my resume between naps and considering the gym were all labeled hard work – I thought I would never grow up to feel big adult moments. But I already have! And so many of them. So, let’s get serious. I’m going to show you my top five:

1. Getting my first real job

It really can happen people. You will have a job, someday. I’ll be honest – when I was offered my job, I danced in an office with my boss with glee, got in my car and started crying. Crying tears of…joy. And for the record, tears of joy aren’t salty – they taste like cotton candy. And I swear the clouds were pink that day. I remember feeling so complete and accomplished, I could have stuck a rock up my ass and turned it into a diamond. I was that good. All of my worries about making everyone proud diminished. Because I was making myself proud.

2. Seeing my hard work pull through, and getting credit for it

The next step after getting the job, is turning it into a great experience for everyone involved. I wanted to work my little tushy off every moment I was spinning around in that office chair. I wanted to prove to everyone that believed in me that I was worth what they saw. One of my colleagues recently told me she keeps a ‘warm fuzzies’ folder in her e-mail where she stashes all of her e-mails that make her happy and prove her success at the job. Now, I have a warm fuzzies folder of my own – to slip all of those small bursts of credit whenever I work hard.

3. Cooking my first recipe from scratch

Yep, I did it folks. The other day, I went to the grocery store and bought weird ass ingredients for a Strawberry Shortcake cookie recipe and cooked a batch from scratch. That, to me, is a huge burst head-first into adulthood. That sudden craving to stand and stir a weird mixture in a bowl and bake it is not a weird quirky craving. I cook for pleasure and stress-relief all the time now. I smell dinner and adulthood.

4. Giving advice to undergrads

I don’t want this one to sound pompous because I definitely do NOT have a large flock of college kids running towards me dying for job advice. But once or twice, I’ve had an acquaintance of mine ask me for advice and that alone makes me feel all grown up inside.

5. Paying my first loan

Aw, there it is. The first check. The first check that you write out slowly and painfully – while you constantly think how it could buy you a pair of Britney Spears tickets on Groupon or five pairs of Jessica Simpson pumps. You’re writing a check for a loan you used to learn occasionally in between long cat naps in college. But it’s fine. When I sign my name for my loan checks now, I make it look extra professional and stylish. Because I am a lovely little adult. And the reason I can pay it, is the reason I went to school for anyway.