Grown up stuff.

Ho Hum.

So now that I've spent the better part of my allotted blog-writing time perusing Golden Globes fashion photos (and deciding that I will save my own celebrity fashion post for the Oscars) I'm going to get straight to today's point... Being a grown up is hard.

You see lately, it feels like life has been throwing a fair amount of "grown up stuff" in my direction. Grown up stuff like health scares and marital struggles, professional uncertainties and the loss of older generations... the sorts of things that (if you're lucky) you remain blissfully distant from until suddenly, they seem to be everywhere, happening to you and your friends and family. And so of course you call your Mom and you ask "what's going on Mom? Why do these difficult and challenging things keep happening to me and people I love?" and Mom, in her infinite wisdom says "It sucks doesn't it? Being a grown up sucks sometimes." And there are two parts of Mom's wisdom that ring perfect and true. (1) Yes, apparently being a grown up really can suck. When age, obligations, accidents and emotions no longer exist outside your "kid bubble", adult life is challenging, draining, scary and often unfair... BUT (2) only sometimes. Because when being an adult isn't weighing you down, it's empowering you to explore and cherish what you love, however you damn well please! You want to stay up until 2am with your girlfriends and then eat frosting for breakfast? Do it. (done!) Or how about celebrating your "baby" cousin turning 21? Surreal and totally awesome. So while I've recently seen first hand how being a grown up can be very heavy at times, it can also be incredibly empowering. If you manage to fight through and carry the load when adulthood sucks, you get to spend the rest of your time pursuing whatever it is that makes you happy.

And that my friends, is some grown up stuff.

Getting Grown-Upy

"No one looks stupid when they're having fun" - Amy P.
(aka, my kinda grown up)

This morning I worked out before work. It's a new trend and one I'm not the biggest fan of, but it's necessary. The evenings just seem to get away from me more often than they used to and even on nights when I don't have plans or errands to run, often I'm just freakin tired!! Am I getting old!? Does the fact that I feel the need to vacuum weekly and wear more sensible shoes signal that the practicalities of adulthood have started to defeat the free-wheeling fun of adolescence? 

Apparently, your late 20s are a funky time. This isn't groundbreaking news, but when you're living it, you really understand it. I have friends with kids, friends that own homes, friends back/still in school and friends that party into the wee hours on weeknights (God bless 'em!) The lack of uniformity, for a control freak like me, is nuts. I'm all "but how am I supposed to be acting!?" Thankfully, it appears that there really are no rules anymore. If I want to rent in the city when many are buying in the suburbs, that's a choice I get to make. If I want to drink with friends past midnight on a Wednesday, that's a-ok too (though there's a 50% chance I'm going to hate myself Thursday morning!) When life requires you to start acting grown-upy, you must acknowledge new responsibilities (you mean I have to clean those dust bunnies off the moldings myself!?) but you also have the freedom to make your own rules (the dust bunnies will still be there next week!) And even though waking up before the sun to workout totally blows, at least on weekends I can still sleep until noon.

Go ahead, stay the night.

Do you think the Pink Ladies stopped having slumber parties
when they left Rydell High behind?

Grown ups need to have more sleepovers. I've given this a lot of thought and I see no reason why adults don't have more slumber parties. As children, all the coolest parties are sleepovers, college is basically four years of continuous sleepovers and then suddenly, just because we all have the option of "going home at the end of the night" we stop acting like extending our good time late into the night and on to tomorrow isn't totally awesome!

Now, is your friend's futon, pullout couch or air mattress as cozy as your own bed? Not a chance, but there's something irreplaceable about late night antics, snuggled up chats in sweatpants and sharing a lazy breakfast. More than the obvious bonuses (go ahead and have another drink; don't bother with a hotel) I think that sometimes the best time with friends is just "being" with friends. No planning, hosting or activities, just being together for no reason other than that being together makes you happy.

So next time you and your crew are hanging out on a Saturday night, don't call it quits and head for your house, pack up your pillow and toothbrush and offer to bring bagels for the next morning.

Ed. Note: I recognize that seeing "no reason" why adults don't have more slumber parties is a bit of an overstatement (especially for those of you with kiddos!), but sometimes tossing reason(s) aside is good for the soul:)