All grown up

From the time we are little kids we always talk about someday being a grown up.  Everyone always comments on how grown up we look after they haven't seen us for a while.  There is also the belief that everything will be all together when we are grown up.  All major questions answered and we are set in our routine and life.  But then there is the question...  When are we considered all grown up?  Does age really make us grown up or is this just a wish we all have that really never comes to pass?

In high school we have this idea and desire to be grown up, where we rely on ourselves and no one else for the things we need.  We feel like we are just about grown up when we are seniors and about to graduate because for some reason the idea of starting college makes us feel like we are just about there.  But that is far from true.

I never realized what freshmen in college were like until I got the chance to teach them.  I'm just hoping that I wasn't like the normal freshman.  I always felt like I was pretty mature when I left high school, yet now when I see how the freshmen are behaving I just can't help feeling like I had a similar attitude.  The are still so immature and naive.  So when do we grown up?  Cause most of them are now on their own and independent yet that obviously doesn't make them grown ups.  Then I wonder, since I'm working on an MBA does that make me grown up?  Ahhh, I have to say hardly.

Then I think, maybe I have to have a permanent job and maybe some kids and that will make me grown up.  Then I reflect on some people who I know who have a steady job and also have kids and that thought goes out the window.  Maybe I have to be retired and experience the world a little before I can be grown up.  But that doesn't make sense either cause I swear some retired people act more crazy than teens.

So, is there really such thing as a grown up or do we all just continue to grow/decline?  I have to say decline cause some people who I always thought were quite steady and knowledgeable just aren't so anymore.  Maybe cause I have a different perspective than when I was younger but who knows.  I know I'm not the same person I was in high school, or undergrad, or even when I started grad school.  No matter how much I grow I'm pretty sure I will never be all grown up, I think everyone continues to grow and change depending on what their life brings them.  I have no desire to be a grown up anymore but I am so happy I'm not a freshman anymore.  It's hard to believe that I was ever like them.