There have been times throughout my life when I asked the question "Am I grown up?" When do we actually become individuals who maintain lifestyles that could be considered "adult"? I guess the legal age of "grown up" is 18. But I certainly was not an adult at that age. I certainly was not an adult through college. I think I pretended to be an adult mostly through the first two years of law school. I was still learning the lessons and the makings of being a real individual. I had some knock downs and always got back up. All through this time my decisions generally only affected me.
I think this weekend I learned when we become real life grownups. It's when you recognize the actions you take have consequences for more than just you the individual. It isn't the fun realization you imagine when you're sixteen and think your life is going to be all fun and games until your 110th birthday when you fall asleep and die peacefully. The hardest part of realizing this is that sometimes you have to consider the outcome of another before choosing what you want. Sometimes what you want is not the right choice. What makes a strong adult is someone who chooses the "right" thing even if it isn't popular or fun. As I initially explained in my first entry, you are what you do. Sometimes that is hard to accept. I choose to accept this reality and choose to continuously pursue the right path. I might fail sometimes but will pick myself up and return to what I know is the right way. These choices are hard and will continue to be harder as our actions and decisions grow layers and sometimes the right answer isn't always easy to see. Or for me, I can justify pretty much anything if I try hard enough.
As far as the weekend update. A couple of us ladies at my office painted BabyInTheCorner's kitchen Friday and Saturday. I had a really good time. Something about manual labor puts things in perspective. Last night I went to a friend of a friend's surprise birthday party. Funny small world story about that. This friend of a friend is actually my Stalkerbook friend. Stalkerbook makes the world seem so connected it is creepy. It was pretty cool to meet someone I had interacted with on the world wide web but never in person. And who says the internet makes us antisocial? Most of the people there had all known each other from high school. That was pretty amazing. It was a really good time. (Until the toilets plugged up- true story.) My Russian Friend introduced me to sweet tea and lemonade. YUM.
Hope you all had a fab weekend. I promise, health care blog tomorrow!
