When was the first time you really felt like a grown up (if ever)?

Grown-up-edness arrived at a cricket match when I was in my mid-twenties.

My father-in-law had been diagnosed with a rare form of stomach cancer. The cricket team we were with, was formed of young medical people. The talk was about how hopeless his case was.  It dawned on me that this was us being propelled into true adulthood. His diagnosis was the end of youthful free will. We were both only children, and the buck, at that moment, very clearly stopped with my husband. 16 years later 3 parents had endured terminal illness and death. But we had two gorgeous young children whose arrival had kept us sane in rather difficult times. Sometimes in life, you just have to play the ball that is bowled to you, not the one you imagined.

A cricket quote to end.