This past week, two of my best friends, Tegan and Brenna, both turned 21.  Of course there was a fair amount of drinking celebrating around here, but in the lull between festivities (somewhere after the mimosas and before the mojitos), I really got to thinking about what it is to turn 21.  Every year on my birthday, at least one person hits me with the cliché “So, do you feel any older today?”, to which I’ve always replied with a shrug and a half-smile.  But this year was different.  Turning 21 really does make you feel older.  While anyone over the age of 35 reading this may be shaking their head and giving their computer screen a furrowed brow and a sarcastic chuckle, turning 21 has made me feel old.  Okay, not old.  But older.

Although I swear I was just taking my permit test on my 16th birthday yesterday, the fact is I’ve been 21 for over a month now.  Which means I am a real adult.  Nothing is stopping me.  When I think about it, it actually feels like a very advantageous and exciting time in my life.  I have finally been accepted into the “secret society” of grown-ups who kibitz over martinis and discuss their preference for red or white wine at the local watering hole.  Now that my friends are joining me in the exclusive club that is adulthood, I can’t wait to really explore the Over-21 world I’ve anxiously viewed from the outside for so many years.  So cheers to birthdays, liquor store perusing, champagne bottle popping, solo cup clinking, and perfecting the hangover cure.