When did you first realize you're a grownup?

PoetMom challenged me to enter this essay contest. And you all know how I love a challenge! The theme of the essay needs to be: When did you first realize you're a grownup?

I've been brainstorming, and I've decided to go with the time I took care of my parents while my mother was in the hospital. I say "took care of my parents" because my dad needed more attention than my mom, since he was so scared.

Here's info on the contest. Even if you're not going to enter, it's an interesting question to think about. Leave a comment about when you realized you were a grown-up.

When did you realize that you had become a grown-up? Perhaps it was when you
first paid taxes or met your son’s first girlfriend. Whether the experience was
difficult, funny, easy, or bittersweet, share your lesson and you could win.

Enter Real Simple’s second-annual Life Lessons essay contest and you could have
your essay published in Real Simple; win round-trip tickets for two to New York
City, hotel accommodations for two nights, tickets to a Broadway play, and a
lunch with Real Simple editors; and receive a prize of $3,000.

Contest/Writing prompt

I saw this contest announcement, and I think "smoke" makes and interesting writing prompt, so I thought I would combine the two in the near future. Look out for the post soon! Care to join me?

Submission Call for SMOKE themed anthology. Poetry and Micro or Flash Fiction. Deadline October 31, 2009.

More details can be found at The Smoking Book blog, thesmokingbook.blogspot.com, the on-line edition of SMOKE.

Poetry (any form or style) and Micro or Flash Fictions wanted for an anthology on SMOKE. Not just the black clouds rising from the five-alarm fire next door, or the billowing plumes of smoke warning us of a forest fire, or the emissions from smoke stacks, apartment house incinerators, and crematoriums, smoke rings rise from cigarettes, smoke pours out of headshops, pipe shops & cigar stores--see that purple haze rising over the fields of poppies and marijuana we just planted--we've used it to communicate via smoke signals and skywriting, to cover our tracks and disappear with and without mirrors, combat the enemy on and off the battlefield, kill bugs, flavor food, cure illness, declare peace treaties, and fragrance our homes. Got the idea? Release it onto the page.