When I Grow Up

From being with someone, to breaking up, to being angry, to now no longer caring. 
From being a student, to an intern, to an assistant, to kinda of a big deal.
From being in a college dorm, to living out of boxes in your first real apartment, to buying your own furniture that matches.

They all symbolize the growth of your early twenties. 


Many of my recent conversations have been concerning my future: What houses are we looking for? Will I try and find a new job soon? Will I make my 2012 resolution goals this year? Is this the rush and stress that real adults deal with daily? 

Notice I added "real" since I don't yet consider myself an adult. I still have a couple juvenile faux-pas up my sleeve. Case in point, this weekend in Gainesville was a sprint down memory lane. One or two days is plenty of time to enjoy Stubbie's, pokey stix, former teammates, and talking smack about peeps. As much as I loved Gainesville, and being there as a student, I wouldn't want to go back with any permanence.

I've often said that I'm too selfish of a person to have kids right now. But as negative as that sounds, my selfishness has also benefited me greatly. When you don't have something or someone else to build a life with/around, you only need to think of yourself. You can do things you want to do. Prior to my move to ATL, I contemplated picking up and moving to god knows where, because I had the freedom to do so. You begin to learn much more about yourself and what you are capable of, in a way that is impossible when you're "we" and not "me".

Call it stunted adolescence (haters), but I am only 27. Now that means, I'm closer to thirty than I am to twenty. Consequently, I can foresee that almost every aspect of my life will change in the next year. The goal? Making sure they happen at the right time. 

Timing is everything. If I had gotten everything I thought I wanted early on, would I have learned anything? I also don't want to be learning about the person I could've been when I'm almost forty and on an Eat, Pray, Love detour. 

Appreciate the time we have. Use it to make big moves, when we still have the time to make mistakes, not regrets. A beautiful life is built, not given. 

The evolution between 22 and 27 has been awesome, and I'm not the only one making moves. Here are some links to some good friends:

Gavin: Big Apple, Small Apartment
Lara: The Ill-Conceived Road Trip
Mary: Spare Change