I realized this week that in a couple of days I am going to be a senior in college. I’m sure I’m not the only one scrambling to find meaning in my life and being clueless as to where the rest of my life is going. But all of a sudden I feel like I am years behind.

For starters, I have yet to have an internship. I have been too busy getting paid minimum wage, listening to customers complain about how their Caesar salad doesn’t have enough croutons or how my boss thinks the to-go containers aren’t stacked right, to think about my future. Who has time for experience with your degree when you’ve got bills to pay?

I also don’t own anything “adult.” If I needed to go to an interview I would have little more than my 1984 Journey tour T-shirt and ripped jeans to choose from. All of a sudden I feel the need to own high heels and furniture that matches. I also still don’t have a car; so I hope my bicycle holds up for the next couple of years.

And another thing, I can’t cook. If I ever grow up and decide to throw a dinner party, I hope my guests will like cereal, because that’s as far as my grocery list goes.

Beyond that, I feel like this is the last summer of my life. It’s as if I’ll have to skip watching Nick-at-Nite because I’ll never get to sleep till noon again or have time to read another book for pleasure. Before I know it, I will wake up on a street named Orchard Lane with three kids and a Volvo station wagon. Where does life go?

I still want to spend Sunday mornings in bed with the Cartoon Network on; I want to keep thinking it’s OK to decorate with Christmas bows, and I want my biggest problems in life to be the history paper I have due next week.

Does adulthood mean I’ll have to start buying my birthday cards instead of drawing them on construction paper with Crayola markers? Do I have to stop using the magnet letters to write dirty phrases on the refrigerator? Do I have to start doing the dishes before the sink overflows?

Do we really need to let go of these things in order to grow up? Have I missed the transition period? Because it seems like I woke up this morning to someone screaming “Wake up, you’re an adult now.”

I suppose my realization has yet to be that I can still do most of these things and that my fears are just a product of overreaction. And as far as I can tell, everyone else my age is at least secretly worried about the same thing. However, I’m waiting for someone to convince me that it isn’t all downhill from here.

So here is my plan: I’m going to spend the next year, and maybe even the rest of my life, living in denial. I can be 21 forever, right? So far, it seems much more interesting that way.

If anyone has a better plan, let me know.