Rebuilding Rob

What’s a moment when you realized you were officially an adult?

This is something I think about a lot. There’s no real telltale sign that you are officially an adult. There’s no rules committee in Geneva, Switzerland, or wherever that decides this stuff. I think everybody has a different moment where they realize that they’re an adult.

For some people, it’s turning 18. For others, it’s being completely independent and taking care of yourself. For other people still, it’s the moment you bring a child into the world. That’s a very close second for me, by the way.

But I think for me, the moment I knew definitively that I was an adult was when my father died. The Old Man was just 67 when he died from cancer related to his smoking.

Now, it’s true that my mother is still here, but in my personal opinion, the moment you start burying your parents is the moment you are, definitively, no longer a child. Even for young people who lose their parents, the world is never quite the same again. In my case, I thought of it as the moment my dad passed away and my generation began inheriting the Earth.

And that’s really what it is. The older generation is dying off. Generation X is becoming the establishment now. Of course, we’ve got some places where the boomers are still holding onto control—yes, I’m looking at you, Washington D.C. But more and more, it’s becoming apparent that this planet belongs to my generation now.

As I’m writing this right now, I’m in Madison, Wisconsin, getting ready to move kid 1 into his new apartment for the coming school year. Sometimes the idea of “being dad“ still seems really new to me. I feel like it wasn’t that long ago that my dad was helping me as I was taking my first steps into adulthood. I thought about this yesterday, particularly as I was packing my tools into the van. Not that I have some monster set of tools, but I figure if he needs to assemble anything moving into his first apartment, I want to be like The Old Man was to me. I want to have stuff on standby for him.

I am “The Old Man“ now.

People talk about how the only man who ever truly wanted you to do better than him is your father. I know not everyone gets that kind of father, but for me? I want my boys to have a life so much easier and better than mine. Not because mine was a struggle, but because that’s what fathers are supposed to do. You hand them the tools, you help them build, and you step back to watch them outgrow you.

Rebuilding a life takes grit, consistency, and a lot of ‘Option C’ thinking. Having crossed the 1,000-day milestone, I’m now charting the territory beyond. The mission remains the same: No glitz. Just the work. New to the blog? Start your journey here to see the blueprint and the ‘Tricorder’ perspective behind the rebuild.

Today’s post is inspired by the WordPress Daily Prompt. While I’ve taken the topic in my own direction for the Road beyond 1,000 Days, you can find more responses to today’s prompt HERE.

Thanks for stopping by Rebuilding Rob. Be sure to like 👍, comment and subscribe below. It’s greatly appreciated! Also, feel free to follow me on social media and check out my recent posts!

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The article “becoming the old man” first appeared on Rebuilding Rob