The Day You Realised You Had Entered Adulthood

Jim Lahey · Post by **Jim Lahey** » Sun Mar 29, 2020 7:18 pm

OK removing obvious moments like getting married, kids being born, first jobs etc.

What was the first moment where you realised that the care-free party of not giving a f**k was over?

For me it was when I was living in South America and was out for lunch with the missus, her mum and her auntie (both divorcees).

The bill arrived and all eyes at the table descended on me. I was 22, broke and unemployed at the time

I took the hit and realised that there would never be a free lunch again

Edit. It was a fancy restaurant that I had chosen. Cost me a feckin fortune!
Edit edit. Her elder, wealthy sister was also there.

Sandstorm · Post by **Sandstorm** » Sun Mar 29, 2020 7:24 pm

4th month in my first apartment after leaving home and realised I didn’t have nearly enough for rent due tomorrow.

bimboman · Post by **bimboman** » Sun Mar 29, 2020 7:40 pm

When I discovered that bank Credit desks deliberately set up products that could be traded through brokers for cover and they’d done the same in my market.

Jeff the Bear · Post by **Jeff the Bear** » Sun Mar 29, 2020 7:49 pm

Although the OP says not to include the obvious, it really was when my first was born. I know this because the night before he was born I was playing GTA V. I never finished the game. I actually turned my PS3 back on recently, and the last save date is still the day before his birthday...6 and half years ago.

However, to keep in line with the thread, the first time I got a Credit Card when I was 23/24, and had to understand interest. Not long out of Uni, trying to make my way in the world, and it sounded like free money. It obviously wasn't.

As it was, 'Money Saving Expert' taught me how to 'card tart', so in effect, I never paid interest on a large chunk of the credit I've had due to jumping between 0% balance transfers. Not so easy now that I am in NZ, as there is a significantly smaller banking market.

lilyw · Post by **lilyw** » Sun Mar 29, 2020 7:52 pm

Mine is a completely negative example.

I moved to a job in the UK on graduation in the early '80s. The same banks that were giving out goodies to students to open accounts refused to let me open one, because I wasn't a student any more.

My cousin moved over to study in Cambridge at the same time and she opened an account no problem.

backrow · Post by **backrow** » Sun Mar 29, 2020 8:22 pm

Mine would be day before my 18th birthday when I lost my mum to cancer.

puku · Post by **puku** » Sun Mar 29, 2020 8:53 pm

After my second child was born.

Enzedder · Post by **Enzedder** » Sun Mar 29, 2020 8:55 pm

'Growing old is compulsory

Growing up is optional'

Lee Trevino

Jay Cee Gee · Post by **Jay Cee Gee** » Sun Mar 29, 2020 10:26 pm

When I stopped jerking off to Pamela Anderson and started jerking off to the Briscoes Lady.

madman · Post by **madman** » Sun Mar 29, 2020 10:44 pm

Walking past a sign for a young persons rail card for 16 to 25 year olds, I had just turned 26 so no longer qualified..

Ulsters Red Hand · Post by **Ulsters Red Hand** » Sun Mar 29, 2020 11:10 pm

Jim Lahey wrote:OK removing obvious moments like getting married, kids being born, first jobs etc.

What was the first moment where you realised that the care-free party of not giving a f**k was over?

For me it was when I was living in South America and was out for lunch with the missus, her mum and her auntie (both divorcees).

The bill arrived and all eyes at the table descended on me. I was 22, broke and unemployed at the time

I took the hit and realised that there would never be a free lunch again

Edit. It was a fancy restaurant that I had chosen. Cost me a feckin fortune!
Edit edit. Her elder, wealthy sister was also there.

Feck me Jim, 22 and living in South America? When I was 22 i'd just finished uni - defo not adulthood , not that that was overly long ago tbf

mdaclarke · Post by **mdaclarke** » Sun Mar 29, 2020 11:24 pm

When I bought my first home and realised that I (rather than a landlord) would be responsible if anything went wrong (eg boiler)

LandOTurk · Post by **LandOTurk** » Mon Mar 30, 2020 12:48 am

29 years old. I was single and had not other concerns then got this new job in a new company and went from 0 reports to 4 to 34 in about 4 months. Shat myself!

True Blue · Post by **True Blue** » Mon Mar 30, 2020 1:47 am

The first time I moved to the US in my early 20s, I was stuck in a seedy apartment with my parents half a world away. Any problems were mine alone.

Second time was when my mother died and my father looked to me for comfort and guidance and not vice versa.

naki111 · Post by **naki111** » Mon Mar 30, 2020 6:10 am

Jay Cee Gee wrote:When I stopped jerking off to Pamela Anderson and started jerking off to the Briscoes Lady.

naki111 · Post by **naki111** » Mon Mar 30, 2020 6:19 am

I'm 27, no kids, no mortgage and no other half. Certainly felt very carefree and with probably a lack of appreciation for long term consequences of my actions before the events of the last two months. Not sure if bulletproof is the right term but not far off. Spending two weeks alone in my apartment as the virus kicked off worrying if the airports were going to close in China and I'd be stuck here to die in a quarantine facility by myself was a wake up call that the party's now over. Feeling genuinely lucky to have a job and my health right now.

Tehui · Post by **Tehui** » Mon Mar 30, 2020 6:27 am

I was 23. I can't pinpoint the exact day, but I know what was going on in my life at the time.

Sensible Stephen · Post by **Sensible Stephen** » Mon Mar 30, 2020 6:42 am

First time I killed a man.

No, I don't know. Don't think its happened yet. Similar to Naki111 I'm in my late 20s and its all been pretty carefree with no responsibilities up until now.

6.Jones · Post by **6.Jones** » Mon Mar 30, 2020 6:51 am

When I grasped my next door neighbour's butt cheeks and said I needed a real woman to teach me about sex.

He was well pissed.

danny_fitz · Post by **danny_fitz** » Mon Mar 30, 2020 9:55 am

Not so much a day but more a period of several weeks. Basically in my late 20s in quick succession I bought a new flat, paid off my student debt and got a promotion at work. Generally had to cop myself on insofar as paying a mortgage, start turning up to the office in a non hungover state, actually being a bit house proud and not wanting to live in a feral shithole with a bunch of pissheads.

crash 669 · Post by **crash 669** » Mon Mar 30, 2020 10:01 am

The first time I felt fine the day after a heavy session on the booze, but the day after that I felt like absolute shit.

Salanya · Post by **Salanya** » Mon Mar 30, 2020 10:12 am

It was just a first tentative step into adulthood, but when I moved to Swansea for uni as a 20 year old exchange student.
Travelled by myself, plane got delayed by many hours, and had to land in Cardiff instead of Swansea. Ended up being dropped off by a taxi in the student village at 2am in the morning, embarrassed to wake the student rep to get the key to my room.
Made me very aware that I'd have to work things out by myself from that point onwards.

earl the beaver · Post by **earl the beaver** » Mon Mar 30, 2020 10:14 am

Probably when I got excited by receiving a new vacuum cleaner as a house warming present

Sandstorm · Post by **Sandstorm** » Mon Mar 30, 2020 10:21 am

earl the beaver wrote:Probably when I got excited by receiving a new vacuum cleaner as a house warming present

Insane_Homer · Post by **Insane_Homer** » Mon Mar 30, 2020 10:25 am

landing alone at Heathrow with a backpack and ~£1000 to my name.

Sandstorm · Post by **Sandstorm** » Mon Mar 30, 2020 10:27 am

Insane_Homer wrote:landing alone at Heathrow with a backpack and ~£1000 to my name.

Pffft, luxury!! I arrived here with £300.00

Property · Post by **Property** » Mon Mar 30, 2020 10:40 am

I arrived in Oz from 3
years playing in Cardiff.
My welsh girlfriend was 5 months pregnant. I had under $100
Australian and had to.live with.my dad and stepmother.
Brought my 1st house 4 years later. Somewhere in that time I grew up.not sure of an exact date.

Sandstorm · Post by **Sandstorm** » Mon Mar 30, 2020 10:41 am

Property wrote:I arrived in Oz from 3
years playing in Cardiff.
My welsh girlfriend was 5 months pregnant. I had under $100
Australian and had to.live with.my dad and stepmother.
Brought my 1st house 4 years later. Somewhere in that time I grew up.not sure of an exact date.

Not quite a Haiku, but good effort

Property · Post by **Property** » Mon Mar 30, 2020 10:43 am

Sandstorm wrote:
Property wrote:I arrived in Oz from 3
years playing in Cardiff.
My welsh girlfriend was 5 months pregnant. I had under $100
Australian and had to.live with.my dad and stepmother.
Brought my 1st house 4 years later. Somewhere in that time I grew up.not sure of an exact date.
Not quite a Haiku, but good effort

A.million monkeys on a million typewriters sort of thing

penguin · Post by **penguin** » Mon Mar 30, 2020 10:52 am

Eviction, deaths, relationships, suicide of a close family member, marriage, miscarriages, seeing my father for who he really was (a selfish prick), fatherhood, more deaths...no one moment, a slow climb up a mountain with plenty of false peaks, still not entirely convinced I'm at the top.

colonel · Post by **colonel** » Mon Mar 30, 2020 10:57 am

Looking forward to it any time soon

Diego · Post by **Diego** » Mon Mar 30, 2020 10:59 am

First trip to Ikea with the missus.

Winnie · Post by **Winnie** » Mon Mar 30, 2020 11:02 am

bimboman wrote:When I discovered that bank Credit desks deliberately set up products that could be traded through brokers for cover and they’d done the same in my market.

Is that a pisstake?

I think for me it was when I got my first dog.
Had the home and a baby on the way but when I brought my pup into the house I felt, yep I'm a man now

anonymous_joe · Post by **anonymous_joe** » Mon Mar 30, 2020 11:02 am

earl the beaver wrote:Probably when I got excited by receiving a new vacuum cleaner as a house warming present

Similarly enough, the Saturday morning I had to go and buy a hoover.

I was so hungover I had to go outside and get sick, but I bought a fúcking hoover.

Also, not wanting anything for Christmas/Birthdays because you've got everything you need is a sign of being old.

Woddy · Post by **Woddy** » Mon Mar 30, 2020 11:19 am

bimboman wrote:When I discovered that bank Credit desks deliberately set up products that could be traded through brokers for cover and they’d done the same in my market.

What does that actually mean? Not a pissy comment but a genuine question. It's about time I learnt to understand "trading talk".

sorCrer · Post by **sorCrer** » Mon Mar 30, 2020 11:24 am

Woke up to a noise in the kitchen in a small flat I was staying in with my father. He'd had an asthma attack and wasn't breathing. Had to give resuscitate him and give him mouth to mouth whilst trying to call an ambulance. I knew then things had got real.

JM2K6 · Post by **JM2K6** » Mon Mar 30, 2020 11:28 am

Hmm. Pretty early on, but then refused to accept it for a while. The early stuff was my life getting turned upside down by my father's business collapsing, him having a heart attack basically in front of me, my parents separating, and me moving from my privileged life in Devon to one scraping to make ends meet in London as a teenager. Plus going to college and helping a Kurdish friend through the fact that her dad was beating the living shit out of her.

Really easy to try and avoid responsibility for some time after I surfaced from that, mind. Depression made that straightforward enough.

Couch · Post by **Couch** » Mon Mar 30, 2020 11:32 am

When you start looking at young girls as being old enough to be my daughter

Sandstorm · Post by **Sandstorm** » Mon Mar 30, 2020 11:32 am

JM2K6 wrote:Hmm. Pretty early on, but then refused to accept it for a while. The early stuff was my life getting turned upside down by my father's business collapsing, him having a heart attack basically in front of me, my parents separating, and me moving from my privileged life in Devon to one scraping to make ends meet in London as a teenager. Plus going to college and helping a Kurdish friend through the fact that her dad was beating the living shit out of her.

Really easy to try and avoid responsibility for some time after I surfaced from that, mind. Depression made that straightforward enough.

Jesus, makes my story about spending rent money on booze seem like rainbows and bubbles.

de_Selby · Post by **de_Selby** » Mon Mar 30, 2020 11:33 am

My real answer is definitely of the type that's forbidden - (having a kid, buying a house)

But one key event was the first time when a mother said something like "keep out of the way, the man is trying to get by" to her kid in a shop.