I feel enormously proud of myself when I accomplish simple tasks without looking like an idiot.

My car was in the shop recently so I had to arrange alternate transportation to and from work that day. My roommate, Gretchen, drove me there in the morning because she is the kindest and most obliging of souls and, after crawling into bed in the wee hours of the morning, there is nothing she'd rather do than wake up at 7:30 to drive me halfway across the city. Yah, she's pretty cool.

But, when considering how to get back to the car place at the end of the day, I realized something: I am twenty-mumble years old and it's high time I start being self-reliant and learning a few life skills. And so, y'all, I took a BUS to the TRAX station and then took a TRAIN down to Murray and then I walked two blocks to the shop. All by myself!

And, because I get overly excited about very mundane things, I:

-giggled to my boss and told her I was "going on a public transportation adventure" and then she told me to make sure my cell phone was fully charged, wear a coat, not talk to strangers, wash my hands when I got home and call her if I got lost. Because she's my work-mom.

-printed off a map of the bus route and put a smiley face sticker on my destination

-called my sister and bragged to her answering machine about how I totally know how to take buses

-texted my roommates saying, "Taking the bus like a friggin' grown-up!" and a few minutes later, "On the train now like an ADULT!"



With gas prices inching toward four bucks a gallon this might become a regular activity for me.

And someday I'll stop broadcasting every time I do something marginally adult-like.