Growing Up

It seems like young people take longer to grow up than ever before. I must say I am grateful it is no longer the norm, or maybe it was the cool thing, to get married at 15 years old. But, at 25 years old, I am only beginning to feel like a grown up, even though I have many of the grown up tasks completed on the big kid checklist.
Married--check
Own my own car--check
Graduated from college and graduate school--check
Working in my career--check
Live with my husband and not in my parent's garage or basement--check
Life insurance--check
Medical insurance--check
Paying back student loans--check
and so on.

So when does one finally feel grown up? I'm sure having a child facilitates that transition very quickly. But for those of us without children, I think I may have figured it out.

I think the body officially becomes an adult at 25 years old. I have conferred with many of my friends and the concensus is that the instant one hits 25, the body instantly changes. Where one could on the day before their 25th birthday eat all the pizza, cake, brownies, and ranch dressing they want and remain trim and tight, as soon as the same person hits 25, they instantly transform into a softened, rounder version of themself--all the while doing the exact same things they were doing for 25years up to that point! It's really an amazing transformation and one that happens so quickly it is simply too late by the time the new adult has even realized it has happened. And where a slim, in-shape person like myself never understood the challenges of diets and weight loss, I express great empathy to all the adults out there and exclaim, while huffing and puffing on the treadmill, "I think I am finally growing up!"