Being a grown-up...

OK, I'll admit it... I like Britney Spears. As in, listening to her CDs actually improves my mood just about any time... I also like cheesy, bad chick flicks like "Bring It On" or yes, Britney's movie "Crossroads"... I love Lucky Charms cereal, and I still like to color in a coloring book on occasion... and I have a crush on Prince William, OK.

In fact, I'm not at all ashamed to admit that I like a lot of really childish, silly things.

So here I am. 26 1/2 years old. An attorney. Paying all my own bills. About to buy my first home... ostensibly an adult. Heck, I'm even dating a man in his early 30s for crying out loud... And yet, I really and truly like things that even most 14 year old girls would be ashamed to admit that they liked.

Does that make me immature? Cheesy? Not an adult?

For a while, I thought yes. I thought it said something about where I was in my life, how "grown-up" I was or how "grown-up" I was ready to be. And then today at lunch I saw a group of women wearing red hats and purple outfits, a Red Hatter's Club. For those who don't know, it's a social organization for women over 50 that encourages its members to go out, where a red hat, shamelessly pair it with flashy yet unmatching purple outfits and do as they please... embracing their mature, "golden years" if you will.

When you think about it, its sort of juvenile, and yet that's precisely the message that these women are trying to send - we're over 50 and dammit, we will no longer be concerned about what others think. We will put on bold, clashing colors and go out and do as we please.

So in the spirit of the Red Hatters I saw today, this evening I shall shamelessly blare Britney Spears on my drive home, perhaps pop in a cheesy chick-flick tonight, and maybe even play a game of MASH to see if the current boyfriend really will be the man lucky enough to land such a fun-loving "grown-up" as myself.