Unrealistic Expectations?

 I feel comfortable making the sweeping claim that we are all shaped by our experiences. I mean, it's not like that aforementioned statement is anything profound or new. Rather, it's the essence of all life. Who I am today is a direct result of the billions and trillions of moments that have occurred since the moment I was born. That said, there are some moments in my life that have set up some pretty unrealistic expectations. Disney movies, for one, as I have surely mentioned in a previous post, but as I flipped through the television channels during lunch today, I came upon an afternoon showing of the holiday favorite Home Alone. -- You know, Kevin McAllister is forgotten in the attic of his Chicago home because his family rushes out of the house to make their flight to Paris for Christmas. 
Naturally, it's one of my favorite holiday movies, but alas, I realized that from the first moment (a shaping moment, obviously) I watched that movie, probably in 1990 when it debuted, I have fully expected that my adult life would find me residing in a house equivalent to the McAllister residence. Note:

Which, naturally, provoked a philosophical abyss whereby I contemplated my current status as a human being. This, of course, is something I've pondered at least once before. I think it actually took place on my younger brother's birthday card one year. Anyway, a spontaneous thought formulated in my mind and thus unearthed the first trenches of the thinking abyss: "I still want to live in that house when I grow up."
Ah --  "...when I grow up..."
At what point am I "up"? I'm married. I've moved out of my parents' house. Hell, I've moved 6,000 miles from my hometown. I have a dog-child. I start my second big-girl job, per say, in January 

**(Big Girl Job n.  No long make minimum wage  [though I'm sure what I will make is damn close, as far as Hawaii's standard of living is concerned]). 

So am I up? Do I forgo the dream of a massive Home Alone home somewhere in the suburbs of a city great? Or am I not yet up? Could I still drive for real estate greatness. When should the average American settle in a home? 
Certainly, when my grandmother first married my grandfather, they were even younger than I am! They had my mother, moved into a home in upstate New York, and to this day, my grandmother lives in that house. Almost 60 years! Obviously I am comparing apples to birdseed here in terms of lifestyle, decade, and so much more, but I can't help but wonder when I will be 'up'. Will I know when I'm up? Who will tell me? Who decides when someone is up? When should I aggressively pursue a McAllister home or give up on it all together? hmm..
Of course, my abyss continued as Mrs. McAllister franticly worked to fly from Paris back to Chicago to save her 10 year old son, who is battling creepy bad guys and single-handedly saving the ritzy neighborhood. I picked up my most current Thanksgiving/Christmas issue of Pottery Barn magazine, took another bite of my bologna sandwich, and thus concluded that I will someday live in a McAllister house, but not until I'm grown up, whenever that will be (I certainly do hope I realize it when it happens). And when I do eventually get there, I will decorate it with the most cozy, warm PB fashions (hey, if I'm fantasizing here, I might as well go big). Note: 

       

So, I suppose, until I am all grown up, which I'm sure won't be for quite some time (like, what, 10 maybe 15 years?), I can save and plan for this dream home. I will quietly accumulate PB Essentials (yes, an actual PB product line), until such 'up'-ing has occurred.  On my budget, however, I might have to push the "up"-ing back to about 20 years. With PB prices, I have to buy one plate or pillow at a time....

Warm wishes to you from our little flat on Oahu (surely, it's the size of a McAllister closet...)<3 

Me ke aloha,

M.