I'm a grown up

I spend a lot of time complaining about my "grown-up" responsibilities.
Paying bills...
Going to work...
Taking care of the house...

As I sat pondering over the drudgery of my "grown-up" life... it occurred to me that when I was a kid I expected that things would be a lot more fun once I didn't have someone telling me what to do.

Then it occurred to me...

Things are more fun now that I don't have someone telling me what to do...

So, to celebrate my grown-up life, I decided to make a quick list of the things that I love most about being an adult:

1. I can have whatever I want for dinner. I don't have to worry about nutritional value if I don't want to. I can have a bowl of cereal, a root beer float, or an entire bag of cookies if that's what I want to eat. It may not be the healthiest alternative, but who cares? I'm a grown-up.
2. I can stay up as late as I want any night of the week. If there's something on television that I want to watch, if I get busy surfing the internet or catching up on facebook, it doesn't matter what time is on the clock. Sure, I have to get up and go to work the next morning and I might feel like total crap for the entire day, but who cares? I'm a grown-up.
3. I can go wherever I want to go. If I decide that I want to go shopping in town, hang out with my friends, go to a concert, or even make the eight hour drive to see the love of my life, I can. Sure, I have to pay for the gas and even risk the random attack of a rogue deer, but who cares? I'm a grown-up.
4. I can spend an entire day doing nothing at all. If I decide I want to lay around in my jammies, watch cheesy television movies and spend the day being a complete sloth, I can. Sure, the house might be a mess and I might smell like a foot, but who cares? I'm a grown-up.
5. I have no rules. I can run naked through the house, lay in bed until noon, and spend my extra money on a pair of shoes. There is no one to tell me what I can, or can't, do. There are no boundaries. The world is mine. Sure, I might get a raised eyebrow and people may be suspect that I have completely lost my mind, but who cares? I'm a grown up.

What do you love most about your grown-up life?

When I'm 38...

If you had asked me when I was 16 years old, "What will your life be like when you're 38?" I would have laughed at you.
Back then, 38 years old would have been even older than what my mother was at the time.
It would have been so far out of my reach of comprehension that the only possible reaction I would have had would be to laugh hysterically.
No way would I have ever been able to imagine being so "old".

If you had asked me when I was 21 years old, "What will your life be like when you're 38?" I would have grinned at you.
Back then, 38 would mean that my children would be grown. I would have envisioned dreams of being a published author, living in a beautiful home, driving a new car and taking lavish vacations.

If you had asked me when I was 30 years old, "What will your life be like when you're 38?" I would have growled at you.
Back then, 38 would have only felt like 8 more years had been added onto my life. That I had managed to accomplish nothing more than get older. That things had only gotten more difficult, not any easier.

If you had asked me when I was 37 years old, "What will your life be like when you're 38?" I would have simply hung my head in defeat.
Back then, 38 would have only been a year away, one step closer to being 40 and a lifetime away from where I would have ever imagined being.
I could have never, not ever, seen the incredible things that would happen.

Life has a way of passing by, slipping through your fingertips like grains of sand.
Days turn into months... months turn into years... years turn into decades....
And, right at the moment when you've given up hope, when you've lost your vision for the future, when you've chalked your entire existence up to nothing more than a wasted effort..
Life has a way of throwing you something so incredible that you can't believe it's even possible for it to be happening to you.

I'm 38. And if you ask me now what my life will be like 10, 20 or even 40 years from now I'll just smile, shrug my shoulders, and tell you that it doesn't matter.
Because whatever life brings, whatever my future might hold...

It will be amazing.