Now that I'm 30, Maybe I'll Feel Like an Adult

When I was 12 or so, I remember thinking that once I got hair in my armpits I would start feeling like a grown-up. Since that time, at each milestone, I’ve looked forward to events in my life that would finally make me feel like a grown-up…

Once I’m sixteen and can drive- I’ll really feel grown-up then.

Oh, eighteen- I’ll be a legal adult and no one can dispute my adulthood.

21- now that is old. Once I get to 21 I’ll be on my own and be able to buy alcohol. Once I’m 21 I’ll be done with this immaturity crap and be ready to take on the world.

Once I get passed 25, I’ll be well on my way to getting old. Surely I won’t feel like a kid then.

So here I am on my 30th birthday and very little has changed. Do I feel grown up now? No. Do I want to feel grown up? Not at all. Sure, I’ve got grown up body hair and can drive my car to the liquor store- hell, I even have some gray hairs. But, it doesn’t matter.

I still feel like the kid who wants nothing more than to get on a skateboard and hang out with my friends. I still laugh hardest at the most immature bull I can find. Aside from having a fiancé, owning a home and a small business, I’m still the kid who wants to play more than anything else.

Don’t get me wrong, I can hang with the adults and I can speak their language fluently. In fact, I seem to do pretty well in the adult world. But, it doesn’t keep me from knowing, deep down inside, that I’ll never be one of them, no matter how old I am.

So here’s to my 30th birthday and a lifelong ambition to never feel like an adult. I hope to feel the same at 80.