I was in Los Angeles last weekend, helping my little brother move into his freshman dorm room at my alma mater. In the midst of orientation activities, trips to Wal-Mart, and helping arrange my brother’s new space just so, I met up with Plunk to hang out and talk about this M.A.Y.A. blog. The timing was kinda perfect.
I was in my brother’s shoes exactly nine years ago. I packed up all my can’t-live-without possessions (at the time, these included a talking Buzz Lightyear toy and every yearbook I’ve ever received), and I moved into a dorm room with two strangers six-and-a-half hours away from my parents, my hometown, and the only life I knew. It was exciting and a little scary. The overall sense during those first days and weeks was that I was on the brink of something big. And that bigness was adulthood.
Which kinda begs the question, during the years between then and now, did I ever actually become an adult?
After college graduation, I moved back in with my parents. I got an internship, then a job. I joined a church group. I moved out. I paid off my car. I started paying into a 401K. I got a promotion. But my cell phone is still on my parents’ family plan, I continue to sleep with a sock monkey, I’m still not sure about what career I want to pursue, and marriage is so far away I’ll be blind before I see it coming. In many ways, I am my 18-year-old self trapped in a 27-year-old body.
Plunk has coined the term M.A.Y.A. (middle-aged young adult.) That’s SO me. I’m still learning and growing, and I’m kind of liking the leisurely pace.
I hope you will enjoy reading about our thoughts and experiences…
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
You made an interesting point. Many of us are older siblings who were oh-so-cool when we started driving, went off to college, etc. Now, we are in the position of seeing them do these things as we move back into the house and look for what comes next.
I had a similar moment when one of my friends was packing up last month to move back to our "alma mater" to start grad school. It really got me thinking about how much had changed in our lives in the last 7 years since we did the same thing for the first time to move to APU as 18-year-old freshman! But then so many things are still the same. . .
that's funny that you talk about feeling like you were on the brink of adulthood, because all i've ever felt is "this is the next thing." from going to college, to graduating college, to getting married, nothing has made me say "now i'm going to be an adult." it's always just been the next step towards... i don't know what. death? maybe when i have kids i'll be an adult. i doubt i'll ever completely take the plunge though.
Post a Comment