The Real World

I am an inhabitant of a large island called The Real World. It is an island that is inescapable, like Alkatraz. I am not a native, however with each passing year I have moved closer and closer to said island. You see, at first the Real World beckons you with its promise of ultimate freedom, true love, first homes, promise of rewarding careers and no pimples.

As I moved further and further from Adolecence ( where I lived quite happily before moving to the Real World) and I migrated toward this Utopian society, I ignored all of the warnings given to me by Real World alumni. If your ship has yet to sail into one of the many Real World ports, let me paint a picture for you of what it is actually like. As I write this I am fully aware that my advice, too will be ignored. You too will be telling yourself that the Real World will be as great as you imagined it.

Don't get me wrong, the Real World does offer many things that it advertises in the brochure that is handed out at all High School graduations. My Real World does have true love, it has a beautiful child and no curfew. But all of these amazing features come at quite a cost.

I have only lived in the real World for about three years. When I moved here, I had great credit, a tight ass and so few bills that I could live comfortably on a slightly chubbier minimum wage. I drove a car that was paid for by cashing in all of the savings bonds that my grandparents had been giving me for Christmas every year since I was born. I paid $250 per month to live in a house with three friends and although this paid for my own room I often slept in the room with my girlfriend because we would fall asleep dreaming aloud to eachother about the Real World. I worked five days a week at a chilcare center and loved every minute of it. I casually dated but never had my heart broken or even really slightly bruised. Life was good and yet I longed to move closer to the Real World .

Before abandoning my early carefree twenties, I met the love of my life. I remember the first time that I saw him, and I knew that I wanted to spend my Real World with him. We played house in a small, charming apaprtment with wood floors, a huge bathroom and zero baggage. We were right on the outskirts of the Real World.

In my Real World my mother dies. There are diseases there, that are not present anywhere else. It is no suprise that the day my mother died the Real World opened its doors and welcomed me in.

I found out that I was pregnant just days after my Love had moved out of our apartment because he was not yet ready to move to the Real World. It was that day that I unpacked and began to familiarize myself with my new scary surroundings. It was evident then, that there was no going back. With the news of our baby to be, my Love was thrown into the Real World himself. He decided to give Us another try. In the Real World you are forced to think about your future, because that is all that is left.

Almost three years later and we are a very happy family of three. I am thankful that the Real World kept us together. I have never been more inlove with Him than I am now even though our relationship will always have Real World struggles.

Our little apartment would not suffice our life on this new island. We bought a home right on the corner of Repsonsibility Lane. I love our home. It is cozy and warm and it calls to me at the end of a long day. Unfortunately it comes with a mailbox, and although the door to the mailbox has since broken off it does not stop the mailman from putting bills in it. Bills with ridiculous Due Dates that offer very little time to strategize how to pay for them. They do not have any warmth to them and they come with scary consequences for not paying them. I remember that this was one of the warnings that I had ignored from previous tenants of this inevitable island.

My only comfort is to remember that like any place, the Real World takes some getting used to. It demands that you learn from your mistakes. It suggests that you look at the people who have lived here longer than you and learn from them, and unlike anything else the Real World promises to be here for you for the rest of your life.