In Growing Up...

WHEN do people decide to grow up? Is it a choice at all, or does it just happen naturally, like puberty or something hormonal and normal when aging? I can't decide what is more depressing... knowing that people don't accept responsibility as a choice or as some kind of intelligent design.

But I'm not really trying to get into "nature vs. nurture" (a very interesting topic in my opinion) right now. I'm trying to decide why certain people act the way they do.

I've been hanging out with someone new, and I thought she could become a friend. Once I finally found money to go out with my friend Danielle (in the Broke post night where I listened to a potential hookup for far too long for a 23-year-old girl on a Friday night), she texted me and asked to come along.

Sure, I said, why not.

Bad. Idea.

By the time I got to her house, she had "pregamed" herself into near drunkenness. Plus, she was wearing a high heel and a sock. For a moment, I was struck by the choices she had made that night. Beyond taking about six shots in ten minutes to "catch up" to me (even though I hadn't even started drinking), what could have possessed her to make that kind of fashion choice? Which direction was she heading? Toward the sock or toward the high heel? Was she going to wear socks with her high heels?

I got it together; I had bigger things to deal with. Since we were "new friends", I had no idea what kind of boundaries I needed to keep. Could I wash her face for her? Should I get her a glass of water? Was there a polite way to leave without her?

She got herself together (high heels, not socks, in case you were wondering which direction), though she still had those red eyes that come with drunkenness and an unstable walk. She insisted we swing by her ATM so she could pull out gas money for me even though I told her it was no problem.

Against all odds, we make it to the bar... late, of course, but there. I let go of her arm for ONE SECOND to text my friend Danielle to get a location to meet and what does Drunky McAlcohol do? FALL ON HER FACE IN FRONT OF A SECURITY GUARD BECAUSE SHE WENT WITH THE HIGH HEELS INSTEAD OF THE SOCKS!

And what does the security guard do? Look at me and go, almost apologetically, "You can't bring her in here."

Back to square one.

This girl is mid-20s. She is off and on going to school, but she has a job and a boyfriend and a life. And yet, she couldn't even keep it together one night without having to rely on a new friend to take care of her.

Now, I'm no angel. I have distinct memories of having a night out at a formal with my friends and taking one too many car bombs. After hurling my life away in the bathroom, my sorority sisters passed me like a torch. Kaiti took me out of the bathroom, Trish made sure I had all of my stuff (keys, phone, etc.), my little Brittany picked me up and brought me home, and she and Kaitlyn took pictures of me laying on the bathroom floor in a hazy fog.

It was the worst, but at least I had good friends that I trusted to take care of me. I never got so drunk that I had to rely on a person that I'd known for not even a few weeks.

I think I should send her a bill for babysitting. Too soon?