At what age did you become an adult?

This question was put to me last year and has come up again twice during the last month. What do you think it means? Here's what it means for me:

I have had significant responsibilities for nearly twenty years - professionally during my times in banking and credit management - marrying at 21 and getting a cheap mortgage from work, which meant I was a home owner pretty young - a flat at 21 and a house at 23 (they're not the street numbers but my age!).

However, in 2001, aged 36, I think I became an adult. Within the space of a few months my wife and I separated, I lost my job, I lost my house and became a single parent - the marital home was sold and my son and I moved in with friends for nine months. Not only did now I have to do everything on my own - parent, buy a house (with a mortgage in my name only) and hold down a job (or else!), but there were some other choices to make - choices no less significant but less obvious.

The bible has a wonderful passage about love which often gets read at weddings:

1 Corinthians 13 - "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy,
it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it
is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in
evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always
hopes, always perseveres. "

The verse that really bugged me was "Love keeps no record of wrongs". I had a lot of anger and disappointment over the break up of my marriage, and our family, which affected my son and my step-son.

My wife had moved to a different city so most telephone conversations would end up with me finding fault, picking a fight, and dragging up my hurt to unleash upon her. But ... "Love keeps no record of wrongs"...

Meanwhile I was being challenged from a similar but different angle. "Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us".

Oh...you mean I have to forgive ...if I want to be forgiven?

Yes....And (by the way)..."Love keeps no record of wrongs".

Oh...you mean...I have to stop arguing about that stuff...I can't bring it up at all...ever...not even...

Yes, that is what it means...

The practical steps I have listed, plus this intentional change on part to not assume a high moral ground (as I was it) was a maturing in my life - it lead to a great deal of healing and peace that I believe would otherwise have alluded me for sometime. They were a couple of key stages that lasted about a year in my life journey and represented a rite of passage for me.

At what age did you become an adult, and how did it happen?