This past week, I turned eighteen. I am officially an adult now—I can vote, get a tattoo, buy a lottery ticket, get a Costco membership, gamble etc. According to the law, I am a grown up, so this made me think back to when I was a kid and what I thought of adulthood then. When I was in elementary school, my expectations and perceptions of what being a “grown up” would be like were very different than reality. Below is a list of my misconceptions and realizations of adulthood.
1. People don’t actually sing about everything they are doing the way Disney did it
2. Summer jobs are rarely as exciting as High School Musical 2 makes them seem
3. Missing school because you’re sick isn’t fun anymore
4. You no longer wake up at five in the morning for your birthday
5. Getting your license is as fun as it seems
6. Mom and dad lied, spinach doesn’t actually make it easier to see fairies
7. But they also told the truth–there in fact are not any monsters under your bed or behind your shower curtain
8. Unlike Cinderella, you actually don’t usually get married to a prince when you’re 16
9. Being able to jump to the fourth rung on the monkey bars is no longer a qualification for being cool
10. Clowns are still terrifying