Full Bloom

Real Adults

I walked in the door, threw off my shoes, and fell down onto the couch, right across from my Grandpa. Chrys was asleep in her playpen. Grandpa took off his glasses and put away his newspaper, then lowered the volume on the TV.

"How was your first day on the register?" he asked.

"It's a lot different from babysitting Annie," I said. "I never knew that being a cashier was literally just scanning things and pressing buttons. I thought it would be, I dunno, more challenging?"

"Hey, it's your first 'real job.' It may as well be easy."

"Yeah. And I never thought they'd give me six-fifty an hour when the minimum wage is still five-fifteen," I said. "I don't mean to be harsh on Mary but she was literally paying me less than the bare minimum. I just feel really bad for leaving Annie."

"I know, but Annie isn't your responsibility. She's Mary's responsibility. She's her mother. Not you. And you already have another baby to take care of."

"She's not even really a baby anymore. She'll be two in the springtime. Why does time have to go by so fast?" I said, sighing.

That night, Grandpa ordered some Chinese takeout and we ate in front of the TV. We had to. Survivor was on tonight. Once the episode was ending and everyone was at Tribal Council, it all started to hit me: this would be my last time watching the show with my grandpa in this house. I knew I had Oliver, but was I really ready to be on my own?

Well, ready or not, the next day was moving day. I got a lot of boxes from the store using my brand new employee discount card, which I'd gotten at my orientation a few days before. We left some of Chrys's stuff there, so she could spend nights with my grandpa to give Oliver and I a break, if we needed one. I had a few suitcases with my clothes. We fit everything into the back of my grandpa's car, then drove over to the house to unload it.

"House! House!" Chrys said as we went up the walkway.

"That's right! This is our house," I said to her.

We let her roam around the house while we opened the boxes and put everything in the closet. Once Oliver and his family arrived, they unpacked his stuff and started putting together the "big girl bed" we had for Chrys. It was a pink and white Barbie toddler bed.

Once the sun started setting, we were pretty exhausted. Everyone left, so it was just myself, my fiance, and my daughter. The cable was finally set up again, so we watched the five o'clock news while eating a frozen pizza.

"Wow. I can't believe we're really here," Oliver said.

"Me either," I said. "It feels kinda weird. Like, Karen and Nassi are away and living in dorms and going to parties, but we're here in a house with a toddler."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. It feels a little like we're missing out. Chrys and you mean the world to me, but we did have to grow up really fast, didn't we?"

I nodded. "Ollie, I think we should wait for the second baby. I want to take a break from trying."

"Oh good. I completely agree!" he said, kissing me on the forehead.

"Yucky!" said Chrys, making the both of us laugh.

"We can wait until I've at least gotten halfway done with school and have some kind of internship lined up."

"And I have a better job than being a cashier," I said. "I know that the head cashiers don't last very long, so maybe there will be an opening in a few months that I can apply for, so I can make more money that we desperately need."

"Until then, let's just take it a day at a time. Who knows what life is going to throw at us?"

"Honestly, I don't wanna know. These past few years have been a lot. And now with my grandma getting sick just—who knows."

"Hey, she has the best care in the area over there. She'll be fine."

"Thanks for the pep talk," I said, smiling. "I can always rely on you to make me feel better, even if it's just a little bit...do you think we should plan the wedding before the next baby?"

"I dunno. Like I said, we can take this whole adulting thing a day at a time. Let's just slow down and enjoy the time we have." I saw him look at the clock on the wall, then get off the couch. "Speaking of time, I should get going on my homework."

I groaned. "Just a few more minutes of cuddle time?"

"Well, since you asked, I guess I have to," he said.

He sat back down with us, me on one side and Chrys on the other. Growing up and moving out was scary, but in that moment, my life felt perfect. I didn't realize it though, I just mindlessly ate my pizza and assumed things would be like this forever.