Adulthood

This is something my friends and I talk about from time to time, and I won't do it justice here, but we wonder when we'll feel like adults. I think, perhaps, when you have children this shift can happen. But I don't have children, nor am I planning to. Getting my PhD didn't do it. Getting my first tenure-track job sparked moments of feeling like an adult, but a new job makes me feel pretty lost pretty often, which makes me feel like a child, so it's not necessarily the thing that makes me feel adult.

Buying a house was another possibility for me. Maybe, we'd all say, when we buy a house. Maybe then we'll feel like adults.

Well, Beej and I bought a house. We close in early May. The fact of buying a house didn't (or hasn't yet) made me feel like an adult. The massive massive loan/debt hasn't done it. The paperwork for said loan hasn't done it. But two things have started to point me in the adult-feeling direction:

1. I get daily emails from our bank letting me know about interest rates. This feels very adult. The fact that I now know a (very) little about mortgages, interest rates, VA loans, roll-ins, and points makes me feel a bit adult.

2. We just found out that we can use our energy-efficiency loan roll-in to purchase an energy efficient washer and dryer. I am beside-myself excited about this. To be excited about a washer and dryer feels, I think, pretty adult.