Standing at the Gates

"Earth to Wendy...where you at woman?"

Tink sent this mesaage to me on Tuesday afternoon. If I had noticed it then and not 4 hours later (I have apparently become numb to the little red blinking light on my blackberry) I would have responded thusly:

"I am at the gates of adulthood hell...send help."

Of course I wasn't really face-to-face with Satan and his minions, but at that moment, I definitely felt like I was. For on that afternoon Iwas sitting through what was easily the most torturous two hours of my life (and yes, I have seen Alvin and the Chipmunks: the Squeakquel). Two solid hours of terms like "Roth 401(k)," "flexible benefit pre-tax medical spending plan," and "HMO." It's enough to drive anyone crazy...or so I thought. That night I relayed my day to my parents, fully expecting that they would understand my pain and feel for me. But no. Instead, my dad said (quite sarcastically, I might add), "Um, yeah Wendy, discussions and decisions like this are basically whatbeing an adult is all about. Welcome to adulthood."

Unlike my dad, I do not believe that being an adult has to consist solely of boring and tedious things like discussing sneaky ways to procure tax exemptions and arguing over the merits of tap versus bottled water (I say tap - extra fluoride!). However, I am aware that now that I'm twenty-five and gainfully employed, my days of worrying about nothing except whether I would rather have Jimmy John's or Chipotle for dinner are pretty much over.

Thus, I teamed up with Tink to embark on this journey of adulthood exploration. Along the way we'll share our experiences with you and hopefully provide you with some tips on how to navigate the sure-to-be bumpy road that leads to full-on, adulthood-level maturity.

Check back soon for an update. I'm off to watch college basketball and put off planning for my retirement as long as possible.

--Wendy