Last week, my parents, sister and I visited some good family friends for dinner, Diamondbacks baseball, a riveting game of Monopoly (which I won, by the way) and, after the couple’s 8-year-old son and toddler were asleep, a hilarious viewing of Jason Moore’s “Pitch Perfect.”
It had been a good year or two since we last arranged an honest-to-goodness get-together with this family, which of course meant there was some catching up to do. While cleaning the dishes, our hostess turned to me and asked how college was going and how close I was to graduating.
I told her I was an incoming junior, but the phrase felt foreign on my tongue. “Incoming junior.” The realization that I was halfway done with my college career — that come Aug. 22, I would begin my final two years as an ASU student — suddenly weighed heavily on me.
I’m a 20-year-old incoming junior, and sometimes I will still be in my pajamas past noon. I will eat ice cream straight from the carton while watching my favorite TV shows. I giddily followed this year’s E3 gaming conference online and am more excited about the new Pokémon and Super Smash Brothers installments than I care to admit. Driving on the freeway intimidates me. I accidentally smear red polish on my skin when trying to paint my nails.
I don’t feel like an incoming junior. I don’t even feel 20-years-old, much less look it. I look the same as I did in high school — except maybe less acne and longer hair that’s in desperate need of a cut.
Despite all this, in two years I will graduate from ASU and enter a dismal job market. I will have to put my hard-earned degree to use and start supporting myself. I will have to become an adult.
Two years doesn’t seem so long when I consider how fast my freshman and sophomore years went by. Cue the panic: “What if I can’t get a job? What will I do? How will I survive? How will I not spend every day feeling like an utter failure? I don’t want to be an adult! I still cry when I read Harry Potter!”
However, my initial anxiety about my future eventually watered down to self-reflection, and I reached an important revelation: While I do have my childlike quirks, some of which I will probably never outgrow, there are many ways I already am an adult.
I can walk in heels and sit like a lady. I successfully manage my own bank account and debit card. I have a good work ethic, and I don’t procrastinate on my school assignments. I maintain a relatively healthy diet — at least, it’s better than a pack of ramen noodles every night. After my sister had her wisdom teeth removed, I sat beside her drugged-up self and squirted water into her mouth using a syringe because she was thirsty and too dazed to do it herself. In November 2012, I voted in my first presidential election.
I will enjoy these last few weeks of summer before diving into an upcoming semester of classes, jobs and internships. I will appreciate my last two years of college for what they are, and when they’re over, I will face adulthood daunted, but determined – whether I do or don’t have my Social Security number memorized by then.
Tell Carly how you're dealing with the prospect of adulthood at cblodget@asu.edu or follow her on Twitter @CarlyHopeB
