Welcome to another week, friends. This is the week I’ve been publicly celebrating and privately dreading- This is the week I turn 25. I’ve attempted to play it cool, but ever since hitting 24 I’ve been trying to figure out how to stop time and stay below the adult line. (I was already freaking out back in February!) Let me better explain this with a chart…

See? So on Saturday at 1:09pm I will no longer be a “young adult.” Anyone on the other side of 25 is probably rolling their eyes at me right now, but I’m a quarter of century old. What the hell.

I’m actually coming around to the idea of 25 more and more, I guess (which is good since I never figured out how to stop the aging process). When people ask my age I respond with, “almost 25” and I totally understand that age is just a number. Looks-wise, I’ll probably be carded for alcohol until I’m 40. This is lessening the blow.

My biggest reservation about turning the big 2-5 is that fact that I’m still learning to adult. (Millennials have official made that a verb so just go with it for the sake of this post.) I mean, I’m still flying out of bed just in time to clock in at work, I own multiple Disney shirts, and I watched two episodes of Arthur the other day because it was on when I turned on the TV. Did you guys see my Halloween movie list? More than half are rated PG…

Then again sometimes I feel very confident. I own a home, I work a full time (and a part time job), I’ve kept my dogs alive for the last few years, and I go on vacation without my parents. Coloring books aside, I feel like some of these things prove that I am a very capable adult.

A handful of things changed for me during my “young adult” years. I think that I’ve changed my behavior and I’ve changed my attitude. My priorities and passions and relationship have all changed, too. One thing that hasn’t changed is my love of lists… so here are the five biggest things to change in my early twenties:

Thankfully, my relationship with my parents has changed immensely over the last +5 years. I was a dreadful teenager. From the outside looking in you’d never know it, but my poor parents (especially my mother) went through the wringer. When I left for college things got much better (a.k.a. I stopped being a snot) and when I moved out and got married at 22 it was like the clouds parted and a new, open friendship blossomed between my parents and me (and K). I love calling up my mom to go shopping or inviting my parents out to dinner. As a matter of fact, this weekend I hung out with them every day.

When I hit 21 drinking became legal. And boring. For the record, I was not a huge underage drinker. I didn’t attend college parties every weekend and I can count on three fingers the amount of time I’ve gotten sick from the bottle. Nowadays I have a glass a wine with dinner once or twice a week and call it a night. Even when we gather with friends I typically nurse a single glass (or don’t drink at all). Plus our best friends are parents so our last few get togethers have been at brunch time.

*(When you actually plan a brunch you know that you’ve reached adulthood.)

Speaking of friends with children, my outlook on those little rugrats has changed, too. Kids have never, ever annoyed me (even working at a kids’ clothing store), but they used to overwhelm me. Kids are cuddly and in your face and loud and messy… and I can handle that in small doses, but the idea of owning parenting a child was not appealing. Now I will admit that I no longer cringe at the idea of being a mom. (NO, we are not pregnant and we are not on the path to becoming pregnant. DON’T EVEN ASK.)

One of the biggest changes I’ve noticed about myself has been my confidence. Plain and simple, I like who I am. In high school I struggled with body confidence as well as my personality. My freshman year of college I felt so lost- mainly because I was trying to define myself to fit in with a certain sorority. The last 3 years have been a confidence roller coaster, but as I near 25 I am so dang happy to just be me. I wish I’d found this confidence 10 years ago. (Seriously though, how easy would high school have been with a little self confidence?!) Yes I still have teenage acne and I wear a size 12 and I love Harry Potter and I color-code my closet… but I’m so in love with my strange, quirky, nerdy self.

My confidence is a reflection of Kyle and his love for me. I think that it also reflects on our relationship. (This month marks 8 years together.) Holy cow… we have changed in sooo many ways, especially these last 4-5 years. For one things, we went from dating to engaged to married. We also moved in together after the wedding. (That alone changes a relationship.) I didn’t think it was possible, but I love that guy now more than I ever have before. He just gets me. He makes Harry Potter jokes and he picks up an extra nachos and cheese from Taco Bell for me and he understands that sometimes my bad moods can be fixed by making the dogs talk and sometimes they can’t. Our relationship has matured and strengthened and gotten more comfortable and more fun, all at the same time. He is my absolute favorite person to have around, even when I want to stab him. I am so proud of him and I know he feels the same pride for me. I can’t use words to express how wonderfully our love has changed.

In the end, I’m grateful to turn 25 on Saturday. I’m grateful to crest the hill of “young adult.” I’m grateful to be surrounded by so much as I blow out the proverbial (or literal) candles. My husband says I’m already an adult, but it sure doesn’t feel like it. Hopefully it never feels like it 😉

-Louise