#52 A toast to Adulthood

Ladies and gentlemen. I bid you silence for a second.
Yes, I know, but it'll only take a second.
Come on, please? It's this type of thing I'm going to talk about.
Alright then. Ladies and gentlemen. Fill your glasses and raise them.
As I make a toast to adulthood.
And ignore the fact my glass is filled with milk. Focus.
This is important.

*ahem*

To. Adulthood.
That exact moment when we all became mature.
I hope you all remember where you were when it happened to you.
You were just walking along, jeans round ankles when suddenly, boom.
You pulled up your pants and walked briskly to the nearest store to purchase a pair of slacks.

That exact point where we woke up and realised we needed to apply for a job
Where we all realised there were 'young people' in the world
Where suddenly youth culture stopped making sense
When people instantaneously felt they could rely on us

When we realised how important responsibility was to us all.
When we were able to go to bed at 10 and wake up at 7 every day
When we realised late night parties were silly
And that exact moment when we realised there was nothing we liked better than doing the same thing each and every day, preferably for the next 50 years straight.

Where, just like our parents before us, we suddenly wanted to be sensible
Where, just like our teachers, fun was something that happened to others, and should therefore be squashed
Where you were suddenly aware what taxes were and how much you hated them
Adulthood. Where in an instant you changed into a functioning member of society.

Nah, I'm just kidding ya.

This is a toast to the slow gradual decline of childhood,
And the realisation that it's left adulthood behind for you as a parting gift.
To the slow appreciation that someone actually makes stuff work
That people have been working pretty hard around you your whole life

To understanding this world isn't all fun and games, as much as we'd still like it to be.
To knowing that you have to work a lot of it out yourself, and suddenly being aware that no one anywhere has any clue what they're doing.
To moving away from friends because you don't have time any more, but you'll find time again soon I'm sure.
To wondering how there could ever have been too much time in a day.

To adulthood being the realisation we are all alone.
And this toast is to adulthood. But it's a toast by many. For we have become alone together.
Which just might make it that much more bearable after all.

To adulthood.