23

Tomorrow is my 23rd birthday.  To me, 23 seems a lot older than 22.  Like when you're 22 it's still okay to be sleeping indefinitely on your friend's couch and getting gas money from your parents, but at 23 you better have your act together.  Erik is out home teaching tonight, so instead of watching Miss America like the rest of the country and resenting the contestants for their flat stomachs (which I once had) and long legs (which I have never had) I thought I would list the ways that I feel like a grown up and the ways that show I'm not even close.

Ways I feel like a grown-up

• I'm pregnant and it was planned.  Teen Mom has proved that you don't have to be an adult to have a baby, but the fact that we meant to get pregnant feels "old" to me
• Many of my favorite pins on pinterest deal with topics like pantry organization and how to get sweat stains out of garment tops
• People refer to me as Mrs. K or Sister K and I respond
• Most of the time I would rather be dressed warm than dressed cute.  This is especially evident to me when I go to the high school in 14 degree weather wearing slipper socks stuffed into my boots and see girls in mini skirts.  Seriously. 
• While we're on the topic of the high school, I am not up on current lingo.  For example, I just recently learned what YOLO stands for.  This, along with my 8:30 bedtime makes me feel more 73 than 23.
• I have a mortgage.  That's a 30-year commitment folks.
• I go to the same person every time I need my hair cut or my eyebrows waxed instead of just whichever stylist is on shift at Fantastic Sam's. 
• I filled out and sent in my graduation application for my MPA this week.  After May, feel free to refer to me as Master Shanna. 
• I have my own checks.  Once again, I realize you can get checks when you're like 14, but I remember being little and being at the grocery store and thinking that having checks is what moms do. Having my own really makes me feel like I've made it in life. 
• I have lunch dates.  When I was younger "hanging out" meant laying on my floor talking about boys, celebrities, and clothes.  Now hanging out means sitting in a restaurant talking about boys, celebrities, and clothes. Like a grown-up.

Things that prove I am not

• I think cereal is an acceptable option for any of the three daily meals
• Two of my top three favorite movies are made by disney
• I still tattle on people to my mom
• I have given people the silent treatment within the last year.
• I frequently wear footie pajamas (see my 4th bullet of the previous list)
• I try and make other people (Erik and my mother) make my appointments for me.  I hate calling the dentist, doctor, etc. and I always feel like I sound stupid to the receptionist. 
• It is possible that I DVRed the cartoon Arthur recently
• My very favorite food in the entire world is french fries
• I have the skin of a 13-year-old boy mid-puberty
• I fully expect to be treated like a princess the entire week surrounding my birthday.  None of that making-your-own-birthday-cake crap for me. I am surrounded by very, very tolerant people.

Maybe 23 will be the age where I fully shift into adulthood.  Probably not.  It will be the year that my weight fluctuates more than ever before, that I don't go back to school in the fall for the first time in 17 years, and I explore a whole new set of excuses to get out of speaking in church.  Erik switched his day off so that we could spend tomorrow together.  We are meeting with our financial planner and painting the nursery (tallies in the adult column?) and then going to my favorite restaurant (McKenzie River-- tally in the non-adult column) and to a movie.  It's going to be a good day.