I recently passed but did not celebrate one of those Major Milestone Birthdays, and as a result I am now Officially Middle-Aged. Additionally (these are not asking for pity, just for framing) my grandmother passed away last December and was preceeded by my mother in late 2021. And lastly, but certainly not least, I have almost-6-year-old twins.

I'm not complaining about having to deal with any of this*, but I just have to ask: Jesus-H-Christ-on-a-Bicycle, when and where was I supposed to learn how to be An Adult, and how did I miss those lessons!? I discovered EPU through NXE around 1997 or '98 as a lazy, awkward, unhappy teen, and I feel like I'm still that person, even though I look like my dad in the mirror. I even grew a goatee, but that was entirely due to my kids grabbing handfuls of my face during bottle feeding, and it hurts less for them to squeeze hair rather than skin. On the deceased parental/grandparental side of things, it turned out I was specified as Grandma's Power of Attorney/Trustee for all her investments and stuff . . . which I only learned about after Mom died, having left me no instructions at all on what to do and how to do it.

I guess what I'm trying to get a handle on, does imposter syndrome or whatever you want to call it usually last this long? My apologies for just unloading here (and feel free to delete this post if it's out of bounds), but I really do feel more positive about the impressions of you internet not-quite-strangers than my real-life friends (who mostly feel like they're in the same boat), my wife (ditto), or my Dad (who's just a hermit and generally wouldn't tell me how he's feeling if he was on fire).

Thanks for reading.

*Okay, I could complain about my kids, who generally act like lunatics, but eh . . .
"This is probably a stupid question, but . . ."