You know you are a Grown-up when….

 

For a while it felt as if I was ‘playing’ at adulting. Dinner parties were fun in an ironic way. Early nights a novelty. Over the last 6 months something has changed. I now feel like a bona fide grown-up; as if I’m truly ‘in the thick of it’.

Here’s are the clues that tell me I’m Official A Grown-up. Perhaps you’ve sotted some of them too?

---

• Some of the clothes in Topshop seem laughable.

• And there’s Cos. Such lovely loose-fitting shapes…

• My husband and I regularly argue about how to pack the dishwasher. Apparently I’m careless? Do I look like I care?!

• Beauty staples. Occasionally nice smells, fads and snazzy packaging cause me to stray but I always return to my old favourites. Palm’s Coco Butter. Simple Face Wash. Mac Face & Body foundation. Touche Eclat.

• Same with diaries. I have had a Moleskine week-to-view, pocket size, every year for as long as I can remember.  If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. **Side note**does the very fact that I even use a paper diary make me fuddy-duddy?

• Invitations to friends weddings are dwindling. They’re nearly all hitched. Which is a real shame because I love a wedding. All of it. The getting spruced-up, the love in the room, the excuse to get everyone together and the champagne (getting away from the kids for the night is a perk too). 

• 9 times out of 10 I choose comfort. Give me new trainers over killer heels any day. As for underwear? Supportive (read – scaffoldingy) beats sexy.

• Feeling genuinely thrilled for the friend who recently discovered Ocado. Seriously it’s just SO life enhancing. 

• Being fairly certainly I’ll never go clubbing again. And, in truth, not caring.

• Falling out of lust with London. The countryside is whispering to me. The quietness. The space. The lack of other people.  And knowing you can always get a  park-spot. All very appealing. 

• Having a few fail-safe recipes up my sleeve. 

• Sleeping with ear-plugs in. And, sometimes (when feeling particularly wild) I keep them in for a bit in the morning. Makes the world a more muffled-friendly place.

• Accepting that certain fashion items aren’t for you.  Halter-necks, culottes and crop-tops. So lovely but so very unflattering.

• An unusual interest in journey’s. On meeting someone I find myself enquiring about the details of how they got there… What combination of buses/trains? Which road? Extraordinarily dull, yet oddly fascinating.

• Investing in good tea (Yorkshire Gold).

• Partaking in an annual spa trip with the girls. Is there anything better than hanging-out in a dressing-gown gossiping?  I hope we are still doing it long into our 50’s. Or 80’s even, that’d be excellent!

• Zero knowledge of new music. Apart from my bro (not in a street way, he is my sibling) Charlie Cunningham who is amazing. Check him on Spotify too.

• ‘Going for a walk’ is one of the main events of the weekend.

• “It’s too sweet.” As a kid when I heard adults saying that it seemed incomprehensible. Now I totally get it.

• Having conversation about roof-racks.

• Waxing lyrical about the Lakeland Heated Drying-rack. It’ll dries a whole load of washing overnight. Yup, you read that right. Great huh?

• Appreciating the benefit of a china mug.

• A body that feels a little worse for wear. Tribes-women tits. Questionable pelvic floor. More grey hairs on every inspection. And whoever said it is harder to lose weight as you get older was spot-on.

• Being responsible for keeping small humans alive. All the time. No matter what. Now that kind of responsibility is the real deal.

• A self-imposed ‘no caffeine after 4pm policy.’ Gone are the days of sinking 5 vod-bull’s on a night-out without a second thought.

• Viewing fancy dress as an unnecessary chore.

• The above list may appear depressing. Not for me. I am perfectly at-one with this less youthful phase of my life. I know who I am. I know what makes me see red. I know my weaknesses and my flaws. I am beginning to learn what makes me happy and am focused on trying to enable, cultivate and allow more of that in my life and less of the stuff that doesn’t.

• Being a Grown-up is tough, but I like the challenge. Plus, as I type this I’ve got electric blue nails, gold sparkly socks paired with patent brogues, am considering my newest tattoo and wondering what festival to go to this summer. That makes me young-ish doesn’t ?

• Or is it a very obvious middle-life crisis? Ha! Quite possibly.