How do you know if you are a grown-up?

I told My Heart's Desire that I didn't feel like a real grown-up. He scoffed and asked me, "You have a job, a bank account, a place to live, friends, belong to a church, and are married -- what else do you need?

I don't know. How do you know if you are a real, bona fide adult? Is it something you just decide? Or do you just start faking it and hope it will work out? In some ways, I feel very adult. After all, I have a savings account and a 401k. And I make killer guacamole. But there's still loads I need to do.

Sometimes I think about where my mom (I was nine when she was my age) and all of her responsibilities, she was married with three kids and a mortgage and a part-time job and frosted her girlfriend's hair while they sipped Tab and smoked menthol lights.

Do real grown-ups wear sneakers to work on days they don't have any meetings? Do they call their best friend their BFF? Do they see The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (both 1 and 2) in the theater? Do they still use college slang? Do they hate to wear makeup? Do they eat Eggo waffles with peanut butter and jelly for dinner?