Before I became a thirtysomething mother whose eyes fill with tears at any mention of childhood hunger or loss of a spouse, I maintained what I now recognize as a gratitude practice. No, I was not spending a moment each day to be mindful of how lucky I was to be safe, healthy, and loved; rather, I would marvel to myself, “I am a grown up! I can stay up as late as I want and have Snickers bars for dinner! I can watch unlimited hours of television. No one will stop me!”
Last weekend I attended a curated reading called Voices of the Year at the BlogHer conference. The emcee introduced each author by sharing one thing that the author had said she looked forward to in adult life when she was a child. I wanted to pose the question to everyone at my table immediately.
I never ever eat a Snickers bar for dinner. My mother’s lessons are too ingrained in my head. But I would easily eat one after dinner — if I had thought to purchase one.
How about you? What did you look forward to doing as an adult? Do you do it?
This will come out kind of sad but I don’t mean it in a sad way.
I always dreamed of sitting down, completely engrossed in a good book, without ONE ADULT telling me to get my nose out of that book and go play outside.
And I am happy to report I read a lot of freaking books.
Talk about sad… I don’t remember. I grew up eating Oreos dipped in Cool Whip whenever I wanted; I watched way too much TV; and pretty much did what I wanted.
Now that I’m the mommy, I totally restrict my children’s access to sugar and screens so I guess I like that I can indulge after bedtime.
Heather! You didn’t want to hang your head out of a convertible or fly on an airplane by yourself? I would have thought you’d have a whole list of things you were going to do once you were on your own.
Travel! Adventures! Romance! And making my way in the world as an artist. All of which have come true. The one thing I never realized I’d do, of course, is become a mother. And now that has come to pass too. Yay.
Ha! LauraC’s sounds familiar — my mom was always yelling at me to put down that book and go outside and play.
I always wanted to buy a dozen donuts and EAT THEM ALL. (Now that I’m actually a grown-up, it’s not that appealing.)
Every now and again – particularly when my parents are visiting – I have a cupcake for dinner to remind myself that I’m grown up.
When I was little, I always dreamed about getting my driver’s license, and drive whereever I wanted with no one to tell me where to go, when, or just pack me up in the car and take me somewhere. Now that I am older, a mom, and have my driver’s license, I spend most of my time going places I still don’t want to go with other people telling me how to get there. So, in short, I think I haven’t yet fulfilled my childhood dream.
Sit in the front seat of the car, receive mail, push the shopping cart, NOT be bossed around in the fitting room, use a credit card…this question is so funny 😀
Be in charge. Seriously, that’s all. I just wanted to be in charge of my life, not be restricted or told how to do it differently or to be punished for speaking up… but man, it’s a lot of work being in charge!
I thought of silly things when I was little that I wanted to do: have more than one ear piercing, drive a car, stay up and watch scary movies every night! But, mostly, I wanted to be my own boss!!
I wanted to be able to stay up as late as I wanted and to eat ice cream and potato chips (and pickles) for dinner. I’m happy to report that while 8:00 AM Kim often regrets the decision, 11:30 PM Kim knows how to indulge in “just one more episode of [insert trashy tv show here]” — especially when my boyfriend is out of town!
And I may or may not have eaten a grilled cheese sandwich, a pickle, and a 1/2 pint of Ben and Jerry’s last night for dinner. Hey, I had some cherry tomatoes with the grilled cheese…that counts for something, right?
I remember wanting to go to work – dress up in the finest suits and heels; boss people around; drive my own brand new car; travel where ever I wanted; eat good food in fancy restaurants; watch whatever movie or Broadway play I wanted; buy and wear nice expensive jewelry; have a dog; have awesome romantic getaways; get married to the guy who gave me he romantic getaways. — Did it all. Only thing I didn’t do that my inner child remembers is living abroad. I think i can manage that with children though. 🙂
I dreamed of living in an apartment with my girlfriends, free as a bird. Never happened! But life is still full of wonder and things to look forward to.
Staying up and reading as late as I wanted!
I always wanted to be able to stay up as late as I wanted reading my book…which I’ve done on more than one occasion (although not so much now with my early bird babe and my hubby who is bothered by the light on when I read). Oh! And to buy whatever kind of breakfast cereal I wanted. In my college years I occasionally indulged in Lucky Charms…but my better judgement usually got the best of me. 😉
Dress myself! Even when I was was an older kid picking out my own clothes, I was still at the mercy of my mother’s willingness to take me to the stores I wanted and buy the clothes I liked. I’d love it if she were still doing the buying, but it’s great to create my own style!
I wanted to be able to buy trendy clothing. My Mother is a strict “classics only” shopper and she forever put the smackdown on any indulgances of trends or brand names.
(By smackdown I mean she wouldn’t let me, not that she actually hit me when I requested something trendy. Just to be be sure we’re all on the same, not depressing, page.)
As soon as I was an adult and made enough money to buy my own wardrobe, I always included some of the latest trends that I enjoyed…and still do today.
Unfortunately my Mother ingrained in me the importance of classics too so I find myself on the Lands End’s website way too often.
My dream when I was a kid was that I wanted to have a job. How sad is that?
I also wanted to be able to have dessert for breakfast whenever I wanted. And now I can but I won’t let myself because of the fat/calories! (I’ve done it a few times though.)
I took that Cookie Crisp commercial that said, “Oh you can’t have cookies for breakfast, but you can have Cookie Crisp!” as a personal challenge and I couldn’t wait until I could eat cookies for breakfast. I will occasionally indulge now, but not very often.
I also looked forward to driving a car, wearing lipstick and high heels (ha ha ha ha!), and getting a mailbox full of mail all for me.
Oh yes, Wendy, the Cookie Crisp dream. I relate to that!