On Being An Adult

How do you measure adulthood? Some people consider themselves adults when they go to college. Some, when they buy their first place. Some don't think that they are adults until they have children.

Me? It was when I finally bought myself some real, adult-like towels.

The towels I've been using for years were bought in the summer of 1998 with graduation money. I took the advice of my soon-to-be college roommate that it would be "cooler" to buy things that didn't match, as to project a thrown-together, shabby chic (you keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means) dorm room. Thanks, Katy, that was a great idea:

As you can see, I attacked the mall with a mission. The striped towels were from Target, trying to cash in on the hordes of scared eighteen-year-olds who will buy WHATEVER they are told they'll need in the dorms. The light green towels are from JCPenney, and were bought two weeks after I moved into the dorms when I realized that those striped towels were too small and didn't so much dry the body as move the water droplets around. The blue towel actually has three yellow smiley faces along the bottom hem and was a gift from my first Jennifer roommate (Jenni, if you want to get technical).

Side note: I've lived with three different Jennifers.

There's also this set:

I received these as a graduation present from my parents' friends. Until last week, they remained the best towels I had ever owned and I almost peed myself when watching Friends and saw Rachel using the SAME EXACT TOWEL in "The One With the Boobies." To think, I owned a towel that figured into one of Monica's eleven categories.

Then, one day last week, I knew. It was time. It was time for real towels. Towels that weren't thin as sheets. Towels that actually absorb water. Towels that don't embarrass me on my bathroom shelf.

Lovely!

They're thick and warm and AWESOME. They're like fluffy fleece blankets.

Of course, I could only bring myself to buy two, as they were expensive and as I am poor, but I am at least on the long road to adulthood at this point.

Of course, my landlord considers this to be a towel rack, so...