Becoming an adult is a metamorphosis, obviously. I think it’s typical that you spend plenty of time in your early adulthood running in the opposite direction from aspects of your younger self. In small ways like changing the type of music you listen to, and in big ways like developing your own set of values. But now that I’m officially in the latter half of my twenties, I’m starting to notice a few things from earlier in my life that—much to my surprise and delight—seem to be making a comeback.

Sandwiches

All the way back in elementary school, my parents often packed me a sandwich for lunch; an absolute classic and reliable lunch option for a small kiddo. Unfortunately, the sensory experience of unpackaging a room temperature, mushy bag of now-amalgamated sandwich components was simply too much for me. Eating it was out of the question. The consequences were twofold: I would go without a meal, and the food would indeed remain in my backpack until it became hazardously moldy and eventually I disposed of it. I know it’s gross. I don’t have a good explanation for this.

For many years after, I couldn’t muster any appetite for sandwiches at all, most especially not peanut butter and jelly—the worst offender. But enough time has passed that I’ve been able to successfully reclaim sandwiches. I buy all my preferred ingredients, add some all-important condiments, and usually eat it right away when it’s still refreshingly chilled. If I need to bring it to work, I can store it in the fridge there.

Biking

I’d like to think I had a quintessential bike-riding experience in my childhood: learning with training wheels, graduating to a gear-shifting bike, discovering a taste of autonomy by biking around the neighborhood, getting scolded by worried neighbors for—to my memory—no reason in particular. I liked to bike to friends’ houses, school, the library, or just around in circles in various cul-de-sacs.

But getting my driver’s license largely eclipsed my desire to bike places, and it’s only since moving to an especially bicycle-friendly city, and having an easily bikeable commute, that I’ve started to think about getting behind the handlebars again. I have to credit my spouse Heidi with spearheading this idea, envisioning such adorable images as carrying some groceries in a little bike basket or trailing our precious kitty in a little mesh compartment. As of last week we’ve officially obtained the bikes, so this particular project is just getting started.

Legos

I started really early with Legos, and there’s just something about those things that make them the ideal toy. Our family’s collection spans many years at this point but mostly consists of the Star Wars branded ones, including an iconic star destroyer set that was the highlight of Christmas one year. At some point, though, we stopped buying new sets because we had enough old ones that going through them all felt new enough to me. Plus, they’re pretty expensive, especially for a tween.

As an adult making my own money, I’ve now become too powerful for my own good. Someone with decision-making power at Lego discovered my exact demographic a few years ago and started the botanical collection, which has had me in an absolute chokehold ever since. They keep making them faster than I can buy them, which is kind of the opposite of a problem.

Spending Time with my Family

It’s pretty common: you grow up with your family, and you spend a lot of time together. That time dramatically drops off once you’re all adults, but if you’re lucky, you can still come together, more deliberately, and hopefully still get along. I’ve been fortunate enough that the reunions have been somewhat frequent and mostly delightful.

With everyone as an adult, it does feel different, especially because there are two added spouses. But it’s nice. I’m really enjoying the mix of doing old nostalgic activities together and developing new traditions.

Reading

Whatever my parents did early on in my childhood to get me into reading worked extremely well, because I remember loving it. I went to the library a lot, brought books everywhere I went, and before I discovered music I would often stay up late at night reading whatever book I was working on. But, like so many others, I dramatically slowed down my recreational reading when I started getting more assigned reading at school, and I was never able to recover that habit.

Admittedly, starting up again is a work in progress. I’ve mostly been reading here and there during breaks at work, but I do have an ambitious new goal for my adulthood reading: I want to read every book that I own. It isn’t all that many yet, maybe a hundred or so, but I figure if I start now I can keep up as I inevitably acquire more books year after year. Can you imagine being able to say that you’ve read every book on your shelves? There’s something so badass about that.

Philip Rienstra

Phil Rienstra (they/he) (‘21) studied writing and music, and since graduating has developed a deep interest in labor rights. They currently work at a unionized Starbucks and volunteer with Starbucks Workers United. They’re an amateur chef, a perennial bandana wearer, and an Enneagram 4. He lives in St. Paul with his spouse, Heidi.