The Scintilla Project, Day 2

Prompt: When did you realise you were a grown up? What did this mean for you? Shock to the system? Mourning of halcyon younger days? Or the embracing of the knowledge that you can do all the cool stuff adults do: drink wine, go on parent-free vacations, eat chocolate without reprimand?

I think being a teacher is what has made me a grown-up. I was before, in some ways--living on my own, paying my own bills, the correct age--but teaching maybe made me want to be an adult, made me realize how good it is.

In my youth, the father replied to his son, I feared it might injure the brain--no, start that over.

In my youth, I was of the Puberty Strike school of thought on growing up: it seemed like a generally bad idea, being a kid seemed like the way to go. More rebellious, for one thing, and we didn't want to forget all the stuff that matters.

But also, being a kid is rough. This is what I realized fully when I started teaching. I like the control-over-my-own-life aspect of adulthood. Of course, that's a myth, too, in some ways--you have all those responsibilities. You don't really get to go wherever you want whenever you want, and do whatever you want. No, you have to pay bills and rent and such, which require a job, which often you don't enjoy. I am so glad to have gotten to a point where I like my job, where I get to do work that I feel is meaningful, that is also so interesting and fun for me.

But I do like sometimes having a bowl of ice cream for dinner, or a banana. I like staying up late reading--though honestly, I think I did that more before I was a grown-up.