What are some things you expected when you were young vs. how it turned out?
My biggest is how people really don’t stay in one place. LOL. I grew up in a boring, small town and rarely did anyone move away. Also in the 60’s so there’s that, but anyway. I have lived here for 40 years almost and I can’t believe how many people I have known who moved away. I thought we’d all stay here and grow old together. Ha, ha.
Needless to say, this is only one example of my expectations vs. reality.
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I didn’t think too much about the future when I was young. I do remember thinking about the year 2000, and being old (26!). I expected to be wearing a suit every day and carrying a handkerchief like my dad. He taught me so much, but I’m glad I diverged from that path. 
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When I was growing up I thought that I’d have a fun and interesting professional full-time job while taking kids to multiple extracurricular activities, having a delicious home-cooked dinner every night, a clean house where people could unexpectedly drop by at any time, and where I was able to remain physically fit and happy all the time. Suffice it to say, reality didn’t turn out that way!
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I expected to have a flying car by now…so disappointed.
I think someone at the DOT believed we would abandon land dependent vehicles as well - how else do you explain decades of neglecting infrastructure like bridges and the same sad 2 lanes of interstate 95 through North and South Carolina?
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I thought if I did my best everything would be good. It was naive but I had a rough background with parents who didn’t really act like responsible parents. So I just thought if I was responsible and devoted to my kids and basically tried to be Supermom, everything would be sunshine and roses. I put a lot of pressure on myself and blamed myself when life didn’t work out in the perfect way I thought it would. I think I’m more realistic now but sometimes I still fall into thinking, what could I have done better? as if I have control of everything and everyone. Maybe someday I will grow up enough to laugh at this aspect of myself.
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I assumed adults would act like adults and once we got out of middle and high school all the childish nonsense would go away.
Wow was I naïve.
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I thought I wanted six kids. Then I actually had a kid.
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Expectations: I will always have a calico cat. Present reality: there are 5 cats in this house right now, and none are calico!
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Do the five cats have at least three different colors (the number on a calico cat)?
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Amongst all 5 - yes, but not on any single cat. 
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I thought I’d be healthy and have a healthy spouse and kids. Nope, but we’ve learned to roll with it.
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When I was a kid, I thought people in their 30’s were old.
Now I think people in their 30’s are young.
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I thought when I was an adult, I would just have this vast body of knowledge that would ensure that I knew the correct path to take at every decision point. I had no idea that many (most?) adults are sort of winging their way through life.
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I believed it when they said hard work is rewarded with respect. I believed it when they said liars get their comeuppance and slackers don’t prosper.
I also had no idea how much adults have to worry about. But I did believe my Dad’s advice " remember that your job will never love you back"
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2007
“I’m just going to visit this college message board quickly and see if I can find out any information to figure out this FAFSA business for D1”
2022
A bazillion posts later, most not even having to do with college…
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I never really thought about being an adult too much, but I don’t think I realized just how hard it would be every day. My motto is “It’s always something.” There is always something to take care of, something to deal with, something is always breaking. When you’re a kid/student, you have school, ECs, and social stuff. You don’t realize all of the other “stuff” that has to be done by somebody.
I also never realized just how fast the years speed by. But somehow 8-5, Monday through Friday seems like an eternity!
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Life really is like a roll of toilet paper. Goes by faster and faster with each passing year.
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the days are long, but the years are short…
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As an adult I thought I would have more time in my days. I have lived through the ages of 9-13 of two children which to me is the height of being busy as sports and activities get more serious and more time consuming. Those years are just a blurring and I can barely remember what happened when. Now I am past that, but I am just tired all the time. I think about being more active but I feel like the life has been sucked out of me.
As I age I understand my parents more and more everyday.
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Absolutely!
This turned out to be true…
When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.
Mark Twain
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