I know this sounds straight out of a cheesy Disney movie but screw y'all, here goes:
When I was in 10th grade I had classes with a girl we'll call Amy who was really nice. And sweet. And proper. And smart. And funny. And cute...but a little chubby. And just about everything I was NOT looking for in a girlfriend. I wanted dumb, skinny, blonde and slutty and I found plenty of them. Me and Amy were friends though and my parents were friends with her parents so we were around each other a lot. We went to the same college and ended up in the same social circle to I'd see her a lot, we hung out a lot, she listened to me whine about my fucked up relationships, I listened to her whine about fucked up boyfriends. Whenever we'd run into each other over the years we'd talk for an hour. When she got married I was an usher at the wedding. When she got divorced two years later I knew it was coming before her husband did. I continued chasing abusive, screwed up relationships to the point where it had become a family joke to guess what kind of psycho bitch I was coming home with next.
When I was 24 I was at a community wide July 4th barbecue and fireworks picnic with one of those psychos who kept complaining that we weren't out on the river in a boat, or at the lake at a party, that we were just sitting around being eaten by mosquitos. Out of nowhere she just started walking off and said "Fuck this, I'm going home" and instead of chasing after her I just watched her leave. My parents were with Amy's parents and I went to sit with them. Amy came over and we laughed about the psycho. For some reason, for the first time in my life, I realized that Amy was absolutely perfect. Her face was just radiant, her smile made me happy, she looked hot as balls in her yellow sundress, she made me laugh, she made me cry. It was like angels were singing and her halo was glowing and I realized that I was in love with her and probably had been for a long time. We were sitting a few feet in front of our parents when the fireworks started and I couldn't stop looking at her. She kept blushing and saying "what?" and giggling. When the fireworks finale started I said "Amy", she looked over at me with the most incredible smile" and I just kissed her. I kissed her long and well and she kissed me back.
The fireworks ended, the kiss ended, I glanced up at our parents who were all looking at up holding back laughter and my mom said "Well it's about damn time." Laughter erupted, we blushed so much that even in the dark you could see it.
That's the moment my mom knew I had grown up.