One of my best friend's favorite "insults" towards me is, "What are you, eighty?!" No, no I am not. I prefer to think of myself as a well-established forty year old, thank you very much. You know, the one with no kids, a job, and a house of her own. At least, I wish that's where I was in life. And for the most part, that's just about how I act. And either you know what I'm talking about because you're exactly the same, or you're completely confused because you can't imagine how an eighteen year old could ever act like a forty year old. Well, let me lay out what makes a premature age-r, like myself, what we are.
1. We are the "mom arm"
Both literally and metaphorically. We've all had our mother put her arm across our shoulders when she has to make a hard brake in the middle of traffic. That's what I'm talking about. When things go wrong, whether its actually in traffic or when, for example, someone has the idea to partake in something of a questionable nature, we are the ones "mom arm"-ing the rest of our friends.
2. Obsession with HGTV, Food Network, TLC, ect.
Personally, I couldn't care less aboutKeeping Up With the Kardashians, or whatever. But I absolutely care about making sure I'm at home when the newest episodes of Fixer Upper and Property Brothers come on. And I may not be Keeping Up With the Kardashians, but I certainly know all about The Little Couple.
3. Speaking of being home
It's where we'd rather be. On the rare occasion that we do go out, especially to some sort of social event, you can go ahead and guess that the whole time we're wishing we were at home or maybe thinking about how soon we can get home.
4. No longer disagreeing with your parents
All that advice you used to turn up your nose at has started to make a lot of sense. Furthermore, you're more than happy to call and talk with your mom about everything that's going on, usually multiple times a day. If there's drama going on, you know your mom will be your gossip buddy. And unlike when you were younger, you now know all of her friends' drama too.
5. You actually look at sales ads and coupons
In fact, it becomes like a fun game. You find yourself getting kind of excited when the weekly ads are released. How much money can I save this week? I mean, make fun all you want, but what isn't exciting about saving money?
6. You don't mind "chores"
Grocery shopping, laundry, cooking, and cleaning. Whatever. They're kind of therapeutic. And when you live in a dorm room, being able to do so in an actual kitchen or laundry room when you're with family as opposed to a community kitchen/laundry is an absolute treat.
7. Your sleep schedule
Is probably the absolute opposite of most of your friends. A reasonable bedtime by my definition is 10 p.m. Which sounds ridiculously early to a lot of people, but in turn, I'm up at 5 a.m almost every day during the week. Getting up after 6 a.m seems just wasteful. And sleeping in until 8 a.m is a rare luxury reserved only for the weekends.
8. You need a plan
For most college kids, doing stuff without a plan is part of the fun. For me, it's stressful. The idea that there isn't some kind of schedule or logic to what we might be doing drives me crazy. In my mind, planning everything out just makes sense. And it certainly saves everyone a headache when done correctly.
Call me a buzz kill, a party-pooper, call me whatever you want. Maybe all of this makes me less than "fun," in your book, but in my book, it keeps my life exactly how I want it to be - orderly, collected, on-track, happy. And to me, that's just about as "fun" as it gets.
