What does it feel like to grown up after 10 years of living like a teenager?
OMG,
I have running water!
Let's begin by setting the scene. The "before feeling like a grown up"-scene, then you'll likely get a better understanding of the overwhelming experience I'm talking about.
Imagine living in a dorm, but it's not a dorm connected to or in any way associated with an education. But it's inhabitant are mostly young, largely poor and on low income. Many of them boys, a few of them girls. This particular dorm-not-a-dorm was only inhabited by eight people at a time. With paper thin walls, a feature-poor camping-sized kitchen the rag-tag group of bright minds living there really got to a feeling of togetherness – even without ever learning each others names. But to be fair the kitchen wasn't that bad; it had a couple of cooking plates and a sink – and although the sink only had a single tap – and that tap was the cold water tap – it always (almost always) had running water. The bathroom had a hot water tap though, and with a very bi-polar shower and a permanently open window – it gave each morning a sense of adventure.
My room had a fridge, and a small oven on top of it. In front of the oven were a small open space – by far large enough to put a plate, but not taking up too much of my window-sitting space. I was a happy little teenager, living in a well-stuffed room with a LUX-value around 13 and all the dust and spiders a guy could want for himself – only issue? I officially stopped being a teenager 10 years earlier.
Then I grew up. By moving into a grown up apartment.
Now I can pour water into a bottle, and place in into my own huge fridge, right next to the sink. If that is not the pinnacle of first world wonders; then I don't know what is. I can get up from my easy chair, walk several steps, take an old fashioned cocktail glass from the shelf (next to my other types of drinking glasses), pop in a large icecube from my freezer (also next to my zink), pull out the Campari, vermouth and gin form the fridge, mix a Negroni, and walk several steps to my other chair by my dinner table. It blows my mind...
Delightful dishwashing
I'm still so overwhelmed by just having a kitchen, with running hot water and the ability to wash my dishes without having to leave my living room – because that's where the music, warmth and cozy is – that I haven't even had the time to get mindblown by my dishwasher. I'm considering just using it as an extra storage space for glasses and plates.
One might argue that I didn't suddenly grow up. And that might be a good argument. I probably grew up little by little during my time in dorm-not-a-dorm-purgatory, but the need for grown up stuff and living arrangements must've been buried way in the back of my mind, because it really wasn't an issue. The rewards are great though – the appreciation for things I otherwise would have taken for granted, like running water, my own shower, a flooring I actually want to keep clean, neat furniture, dishwashing, cooking etc. – is tenfold. Or at least it feels that way.
20-year old me would shake his head
Back when I was 20, I wouldn't have appreciated the huge wonder it is to be able to sit at my very own, newly bought dinner table, drink an obscure cocktail from a crystal old fashioned glass on a tall chair next to my 11-year old bonzai plant while eating a home-cooked meal and listening to a best of Yello playlist.
All grown up
The wonders of living like a grown up keeps on giving – my next OMG-moment is waiting on the other side of exchanging my air-mattress with an actual bed.