Me, a Grown Up? Hmmm...

The other day I was having lunch with a dear friend. She encouraged me to enter a writing contest being held by one of her favorite magazines. The topic, to be described in 1,500 words is: "When did you first realize that you had become a grown up?"

I'm not sure I feel like I am one. A grown up. Truly. There are so many days when I will refer to people who are around my parents' age as "grown ups" but can't seem to make the correlation, that I, too, am a grown up. What does being "grown up" mean? When we reach a certain height? A certain age? A particular milestone? Is it the day we own something such as a car, a piece of property, or when we combine our lives, monetarily, emotionally, and sometimes by name with someone else?

I guess this is the question being posed. Not only for me to answer if I am going to submit anything to this contest, and I really want to, but maybe it's a question I'm putting out there so if anyone has any thoughts or perhaps their own revelation on when you felt you became a grown up, I'd love to hear 'em!