Becoming An Adult

My wife and I were chatting about money one day. It's a frequent touch point: the everlasting discussion about money. My daughter was with us, and she asked "Is this all adults talk about? Money?"

"Well, we talk about you a lot!"

All kidding aside, it's an intriguing question. It made me glad our kid was interested in us adults. She'll be one soon enough.

I remember the exact moment in which I truly felt like an adult: at the real estate closing for the house where we now live. I sat at a table with a few lawyers, the current owners, and some real estate agents. My wife was there too, and maybe she felt the same way: "I'm doing an adult thing here!"

We decided on a house in November 1996 and closed in March 1997. Along the way we had to make lots of decisions. We had to hire a lawyer, sell a bunch of stock, figure out the inspection process, buy furniture, and lots of other tasks that I have now forgotten. All of this may sound like run-of-the-mill bureaucracy but the closing felt like momentous occasion.

While it may seem that adults only talk about money, in reality what adults talk about are decisions. That's the essence of adulthood: decision making. Small decisions. Big decisions. Inconsequential decisions. Humongous decisions.

These decisions become your history and experience, and that helps because decision making never ends. Spend a few years making decisions and you'll be talking like an adult before you know it!