In so many ways it's tough to be a grown up with responsibilities. This issue is never so obvious as days like these when my wife and I have to take time out of our weekend to go to the nursing home/rehab facility that her dad is staying at to get better after falling and fracturing his arm and hip. This is not something wants to do but it is our responsibilities to go see him and keep his spirits up.
Seeing all the elderly people, who have a hard time doing anything on their own, makes one appreciate the independence that you have when you are healthy adult. Once in a while, I used to tease my mom about putting her in a home. Since I have been going to one once a week I have told her that I wont be kidding her any more about it because it really isn't funny.
The responsibilities of being an adult are so much more than just going to a nursing home once a week. It's about getting up everyday to go to work even when you don't feel like it. I have a 60 mile one way commute to my job. If I had my choice, I would quit and find something else closer and that would pay more and have better benefits. I can't just quit my job though because I have bills to pay. I am married and we have rent, utilities, student loans and car payments that we have responsibilities for. We would like to be able to buy a house some day, go on another vacation and be able to buy things that we want like CD's, movies and hopefully someday a large flat screen TV: )
As you can see blowing off work to play video games or sleep in or even quitting is not an option. I have a hard time respecting people who think life revolves around them and don't want to take life's responsibility seriously. I don't want to be one of those guys like DA Coach who says "In life" every other sentence but as one gets older one will realize those two words will mean more and more.
On the other side of being an adult, when you work hard you can enjoy more the pleasure of life. You can enjoy taking a vacation, buying a video game, going to a movie or going to a nice restaurant with someone special. At this point that large flat screen TV will have to wait. I have come to believe that you enjoy these more when you know how hard you worked to get the item that you desire.
