this IS life
I need to rant.... Who would look at a brand-new, first-time mama, with her couple-of-weeks-old baby, and tell her that this wasn't 'real life' and because one day her baby will sleep through the night? Or that she wasn't in the 'real world' yet because this new mama hasn't dealt with a PMS-ing teenage girl? ABSOLUTELY NO ONE! EVER! So why do so many people look at students (elementary, middle, high, college, I don't care - pick one) and tell them that their life isn't 'real life in the real world?' No, most high-school students do not pay their own bills. No, the later chapters of life probably don't include a bubble-sheet scantron for exams. Yes, there are aspects of life that are harder/easier/more complicated/more simplistic/more stressful/more relaxing/or just plain different. But that doesn't make the almost 25% of your life (if you stop at an undergraduate degree around 22-years-old and live well into your ninetie...