So I had high hopes of entering this essay contest that's in the magazine "Real Simple" (awesome mag by the way) and bringing home the grand prize. The topic for the essay? "When did you first realize that you had become a grown-up?" Now as soon as I read about this I immediately started thinking about all the different times that I could write about. You know, all the cliched times I "realized" I was finally an adult. More or less it would have been me writing a bunch of crap that some frou-frou lady who edits a magazine section would be enchanted by and publish and give me $3000 and send me off to New York city for 2 nights.
But believe it or not this was not as simplet as it sounds. I started working on this little project immediately after reading about it in my August issue nestled in between the All-Bran ad and some boring piece by some lady (a creative writing professor at a college in Portland, no less) who is searching for a quiet place to work but discovers that quiet isn't even what she wants. Can you say pointless? Yep, and BORING too! I mean, come on. I can't believe they actualy pulished that mess in there. I expect way better from Real Simple. People don't want to read about crap like that. People want to read about innocent 19 year old girls getting knocked up by the ass-hole of their dreams and life as they know it ends forever. They want to read about the perceived struggles of a single moms getting themselves through college after leaving the aforementioned ass-hole. People want to read about trials, tribulations, heartbreak, and tradgedy...and then they want to hear heroic stories of the people who pick themselves up and dust off and go on to discover Viagra or cure cancer. I could have easily written about all of these things IF they were actually true.
My problem with this whole essay contest is that I honestly cannot pinpoint a time in my life when I said "Self, you are now a grown-up. Congratulations." This only leads me to the conclusion that I am, in fact, not a grown-up yet. I guess to the untrained eye of the outsider I might actually appear to be a grown-up. I have a 6 year old daughter (who is absolutely wonderful if I do say so myself), a decently good career (even on days when I leave and have to either drink massive amounts of alcohol when I get home or go straight to bed), a nice house, and a great husband (I've been told by many that he's nice to look at and I'll have to agree). So outwardly I really do look like a grown-up but I just don't feel like one inside.
Since the essay is actually due today I guess that my big debut in Real Simple isn't going to happen. I'll be keeping an eye on those contests though because I'm sure sooner or later they'll come up with something that is all for me.
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