old Friends vs. OLD Friends and Other Signs of Growing Up

Today I saw and spent time with an old friend of mine. Over the last few years, we have talked on and off but, despite always saying that we should get together, have not seen each other at all. A few minutes into talking with him, after I had the time to take a good look at him, I started laughing. His goatee had gone grey as had his sideburns. So when he asked why I was laughing, I did what any good friend would do – told him the truth.

“Look at you! You’re grey! Oh my God, you’re OLD!”

Later in the conversation, he told me about someone he knew who had fairly recently come into quite a bit of money and had spent his way through all of it in a matter of months, with nothing to show for it today. Shaking my head, I said that if I ever had that kind of money in my pocket, I would buy a house completely. No rent, no mortgage – just a guaranteed roof over mine and my families head. Upon his full agreement, I commented “That’s how you know when you’ve grown up. When you starting having dreams of roofs instead of wild and crazy parties.”

Which led me to tell him about one of the most defining grown-up moments of my life. Not about the births of any of my four children (heck, anyone can do that, right?) but about a visit to a car dealership about 4 years or so ago.

Quick backstory – my dream car since I was 11 or 12 years old has always been a Ford Mustang. My absolute favorites were built between 1964 1/2 and 1967 with 1968 being a close 2nd. Anything later than that I don’t particularly care for until 1993 and on. Anyone who knows me is well aware of my love for these Mustangs and my deep desire to own one. Flash forward now back up to 4 years ago. I had been working with an auto dealership online to get financing and finally got the call from then asking me to come down. The salesman told me that the approval had cleared the bank, a car was picked out (due to bad credit I was being choosy about what kind of car they decided upon) and all I needed to do was sign the papers and pick up the keys. Upon my arrival, I was presented the keys to my new car – a black 1994 Ford Mustang.

Immediately the tears welled up in my eyes and after sparing a glance towards my husband (who knew exactly what I was thinking but felt very little of what I was feeling, the damn Chevy lover), I told the guy that I was sorry but I couldn’t buy the car. At the time I had 3 kids that technically could have fit on the backseat but it was not a very realistic and practical solution. My heart breaking, I asked him if he had anything else to offer me and drove home that day in a Chevy Astrovan (stop laughing!)
Later that evening, I realized that I was now a grown-up.

So what are some of your defining moments, when it hit you like a ton of bricks that you were finally an adult?