Help. When did that happen!

Walking to Tescos today when I had a sudden realisation that I am now a grown up!!!

Why did this epiphany happen today?

No particular reason I was just having a little think, (which I often do when i'm walking somewhere and haven't got my ipod on to drown out my thoughts).
And I thought back to when I was 16 and just starting college (so that would be 1996). Life was exciting starting college, left school, making new friends, i was an 'adult'. Obviously I am well aware that I wasn't an adult but in my head I was.
My life revolved around college, seeing my friends and going out.
My biggest worry was if Blur or Oasis would get to number one and if that lad fancied me or did he fancy my best mate!

I thought people my age (32) were boring! From my experiences with my parents and their friends all they talked about was houses, kids, their job... blah, blah, blah!

And it hit me my 16 year old self would hate me! Here I am walking to Tescos to get some bits in for tea, then i'm going to go home hoover, fetch the washing in and cook tea!!!!

OH MY GOD!!!!!

Now I don't really think i'm boring. I like my life as it is now.
I see my friends, i spend time with my boyfriend, i go to concerts, the cinema etc.
It's not as if i sit at home day in day out doing fuck all!
But it is definatly not what I expected my life to become.

Now lets be honest who at 16 imagined what their life would be like in their 30's and thought they'd be rich?!
I certainly did. I thought i'd leave college, get an amazing job working with animals (that didn't happen), save loads of money and by now I would be living abroad as the female David Attenborough or Steve Irwin!

So when did it happen? When did I decide I liked nights in, and not going out drinking till i pass out?
I mean obviously I did that at 16 onwards. Me and my friend April were talking the other week about a night of a college disco (yes a college disco. The drinks were SO cheap). Anyway myself, April and our friend Dawn had all chipped in for a bottle of Southern Comfort. Me and April drank all of it cos Dawn decided she didn't like it. We then went up to the student union and proceeded to finish off the bottle behind the bar!
Now i can guarantee if me and April did that now we would probably be ill for a week with a hangover!

I think being part of a couple in many ways makes you boring as well. because you become content to spend your nights in with that special someone and are less inclined to go out get drunk and make a complete tit of yourself!

So when did my life change? When did conversations about babies, marriage, divorce, buying a house etc. Become part of my everyday vocabulary?

As i've typed this and gone off on a bit of an odd slant and not really come to some grand conclusion as to why i suddenly became a grown up and therefore dull!
I find myself wondering if i would go back to being a 16 year old?

And the answer to that is no. I may have become boring to anybody in their late teens/early twenties. But i wouldn't swap the confidence i have. And the fact that i no longer have to prove myself to my friends or anybody.
My life is definatly not what i expected but at least i'm happy (most the time).