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Loved it! Grown-up-ness is also fine-tuned depending on culture. In my parent's generation in India, you stick around with that same spouse FOREVER. Come hell or high water. (Another feature of grown-up-ness is to have a fast-fading curiosity. How the hell did high water get the same dangerous status as hell? Anyway...)

A downside of autonomy as a grownup is the need for stability. While you look for cool-ness in a person, I look for situations where people break bad. We may differ in our views, but we need people to show us colors that we agree with. Finally, until that 4th vodka shot (or the 1st for me), we are expected to hold our tongue (my landlord's 6-yr-old's most brutally honest feedbacks have been forgiven.) Since autonomy needs accountability, we act less. Or at least we do so in a measured way. I like how Robert Brault puts it -- "Ill tell you what's sad. It's sad to see little kids grow up and lose all their superhero powers."

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