When are you eligible to eat at the adult table?

In response to last week’s question, "When are you eligible to eat at the adult table?",  my birthday bud Jon, whose daughter is in college, longingly wrote, "I'm hoping it will be this year....."

My neighbor Al had a different perspective, "It varies with your tribe.  Many don't have an age limit to eat adults."  

My friend Kevin shared, "Because of my height and girth, I am no longer able to fit at the kids table.  It's like on Sesame Street, "Which of these things is not like the other?"  My dad's beach buddy Bob had a different criteria when responding, "Anything I can get my hands on providing I can get past the smell."

My sailing and writing friend Rich observed, "When you can sit through the meal without noticing the various elephants in the room. I enjoy sitting with nieces and nephews, they are a much funner crowd anyway."  My friend Richard agreed, "When there’s not enough room at the kids’ table. Of course, then you have to use your utensils and listen to boring conversations, so it’s not really much of a promotion."

My social media friend Mark observed, "You can move away from the kids' table when you are 16 and too much of a major pain in the tail feathers to be listened to in the car on the way home. But you are not welcome at the adult table until you screw up your first Thanksgiving hosting. Who knew you were supposed to take those innards out before you cooked that turkey. And no one told me to thaw the thing out before Thursday."   To this, my project mgmt friend KJ shared, "When you don’t need a booster seat to reach the food and know how to sit still and can quietly listen to what the adults are saying, so as to use anything said against them in the future."

My cycling friend Ted admitted, "This is difficult for me to answer because so far, my mother has not allowed me to sit with the adults! My wife concurs."  To this, my cousin Greg added, "The real question is 'When are you ever really an adult'?"  To this, my cousin Wes recalled, "We aren't when some of us get together.  I still chuckle about Barb and John's wedding reception."

My college roomie John, who is one of 13 siblings, explained, "Either the adult table gets bigger - more extensions or both tables are full of adults and children."   My cousin Valarie replied, "When enough adults have died off to make room for you (OK, that's not very nice).  How about 'when your wealthy relative finally agrees to host and sets up larger tables'. Best answer: when you're mature enough to contribute well to the conversation."

Please share your thoughts about "things that make you go 'Hmmm' “:

Can you consistently be random?

Live well...laugh often and heartily.... have a good week and never regret anything that made you smile!

Hal

[Thanks to Demetri Martin, Steven Wright and George Carlin for the inspiration.]