How old will you be when you grow up?

Last week, I was speaking with a friend, who recently found themselves out of a (serious and relatively long) relationship with the person that he loved. The heartache is slowly leaving now, but the feelings that he once felt have changed him. Not changed him completely, as there are still the weekends when he goes all "immature 20-year-old" and gets loose and lives for the drunken pashes with hot skanky girls...but most times, as he explained to me, he just wants to be at home, with a girl whom he loves, watching movies and talking and enjoying one anothers company. A far cry from how I remember this young man 2years ago. His outlook on life is less immature and the morals and values that he used to mock, are now understood and respected. He has, in one sense, grown-up.

The conversation I had with this friend, and hearing his thoughts on things relating to love and life and all the rest of it...really got me thinking. What does it mean to grow up?

At one stage, it means to be a big person. And look like an adult. Then you start to think that to grow up, would mean to have a career and be making heaps and heaps of money (everyone seems to make themselves rich when contemplating their future). But only after you reach the stage, where you HAVE to start thinking about your future, do you realise that to be grown up is a whole mind set. It's how think and how you act...not necessarily based on any particular age or event.
To be grown up doesn't mean that you can't have your immature moments and be silly and not 'act your age' - but rather that you have your priorities straight (whatever that means) and there is some form of sensibility in decisions that you have made or that you are preparing to make.
This doesn't occur overnight. As with most things, it relies heavily on your experience and the feelings or thoughts that were triggered. For some it takes a while to reach any sort of maturity. To leave behind old habits and focus on creating new ones. At times, it can be that a conscious effort needs to be made. Or for those lucky level-headed people, they just seem to grow into it.
It can be seen as a chance for responsibily to be increased, or, given - to aid the process. However you look at it, whether you agree with what I've said or disagree, it is of no consequence to me, for all I wonder is: How old will I be when I grow up?