TCL - Rule #2 - Responsibility of Adulthood

 When my parents left on Saturday for a week long scuba diving trip, I immediately became head of the house; a title I have been adjusting to all week. I have never been in charge of a household for more than a few days at a time, so seven days offered me enough time to really get a taste of what full Independence is like. Of course independence is not something that I have been deprived of completely, and is something I must grasp fully when I move to Tampa for college in the fall, but even then I won’t have a sibling and pets to care for. Besides doing the laundry, the dishes, getting the mail, feeding and walking the animals ect, I learned that taking care of another person is not a lot of fun. My brother is old enough to spend hours on his own, but not old enough to feed himself, drive, or plan for himself. If I’d let him fend for himself he would have spent the entire week on the couch watching TV, playing video games, and eating cereal. But then what kind of caretaker would I have been? I took him out to dinner to at least get him out of the house and while we were eating asked, “If you could do anything you wanted, what would it be?” He couldn’t think of much. All of his friends are at least a half an hour away and extremely busy, so play dates were hard to coordinate, especially with my 6-9pm work hours each day. I thought about what kind of daytime activity I could suggest, and with the inspiration of the wildlife art hanging on the wall to our right, I asked him if he would like to go to the Atlanta zoo. This suggestion was a big hit and we planned the trip. He was going to bring a friend and so was I. The Atlanta Zoo by the way, was a lot smaller than I had imagined, but this may have been because the only other zoo I have been to is the one in San Diego. It took my father and I three and a half hours to tour the whole thing as opposed to the hour and a half it took for my boyfriend and I to walk through the Atlanta Zoo. To my disappointment this elephants had been put in for the day as well- my favorite animal and half the reason I wanted to go to the zoo.

                In addition to the household duties, I also started my first job while they were out of town. I am a hostess/extra hand (and an extra hand means I refill drinks, clear tables, wipe them down ect.) for a bar and grill, and will soon upgrade to waitressing after I get my pouring permit. Firstly, I decided I would save 75% of all the money I make for my “life funds”. I’ve been starting to realize how much paying for living space is really going to cost once I am out of college, how I will need a car, and how many hours I have to work just to afford a dinner for two (which is more of a downfall for my boyfriend than me hehe). I definitely need some life funds. Secondly, working definitely does not challenge my brain like school does, but it still a challenge. Being a employee in a restaurant means I have to be extremely friendly and not let anything anybody says bother me for four hours at a time. It means I have to touch the remains of other people picked at and pulled apart meals, wipe up gloopy droppings from the floor, and wipe ketchup off crayons once toddlers are done fiddling around with them. At the end of the day my legs and back hurt, which I didn’t think was supposed to happen at eighteen. Thirdly, working at the restaurant has changed my perspective about restaurants in general. Know I know what is going through the servers and hostesses heads when I walk into restaurants. How the server hopes to God he got the order right, and is constantly thinking about the tip he/she is going to get. How sometimes the hostess looks down at her papers when she/he has nothing to do and pretends to be very interested or concerned about something that is not there because staring at the door gets boring sometimes.

                The point is, adulthood is here, and there are so many things I am realizing. Some I like – staying out late, not being in high school, making my own choices. Some I don’t – bills, money problems, leaving your friends when it’s time to split, having to be responsible. Being responsible is a full-time job. It isn’t something we sign up for, it’s just a job that is thrusted upon us and we choose to either embrace it or ignore and seek out the consequences. I think I can do it? It is something I am still trying to figure out.