Thursday, October 04, 2007

Where'd the reckless abandon go?

I don't exactly know why, but lately I've been thinking a lot about my years spent as an undergrad and I've realized that there is a lot I miss about those good ole days. Our biggest worries were whether or not the person we were into was interested in us too and who was gonna by the beer for us for the coming weekend. We did things like go get coffee at 11:30 at night 'cause we weren't tired yet, stay up for two days straight just to see if we could do it, explore a cave during a weekend of camping that involved swimming through 50 degree water in total darkness to get to the interior which ended with us being accosted by a park ranger for breaking the law (luckily we weren't ticketed), making hilarious videotapes of all our debauchery that took place during parties, getting my tongue pierced on a whim(no I don't have it anymore), loading up friends into my car and driving to the giant parking lot behind Ryan's restaurant following an ice storm and practicing evasive driving manuevers on the ice coated pavement, and one of my favorites: when Brooke and I lived together in the dorm the fire alarm went off one night around 3AM. Did we get out of bed and go outside? Nope. We didn't care if the building was actually on fire. We just wanted our beauty rest. (Subsequently some fire men ended up breaking into our room to make sure we were alive.)

I love looking back on this stuff, but at the same time I feel a little saddened that it's over. It's not that I'm not happy with my life right now. I have many blessings, excellent friends and a supportive family. It just seems that we've transistioned into a phase of life that is less wild and carefree than it used to be. I'm not saying those years didn't have there trying moments. I certainly made some mistakes and have a few regrets (not so much that I wish I hadn't done some things I did, just wishes that I had handled a few things a little differently). Maybe this is just a touch of Peter Pan syndrome. Maybe the mental brutality of p-school's got me down. Ah well, they say life is cyclical. Better to look to the future than dwell on the past.

3 comments:

Elizabeth Spann said...

1. Turns out those boys DO (and did) like us. Who'da thought it? And it also turns out they're all pretty great. I think we're pretty dang lucky in that...
2. I think of you every time I drive by Ryan's.
3. I literally thought Jeremy might be insane on that cave trip. I also thought he was pretty cute. I tell that story to people sometimes to illustrate how insane we were.
4. Those vidoes brighten my life every so often.
5. We're really not that old. We just got smarter. That's all!

Chandle said...

No, I agree, life isn't that cool anymore.

Unknown said...

i had no idea that was one of your favorite college memories. i think you might be leaving out the part, however, about the fact that we (in our own separate rooms, of course) slept in the buff, and that was why we didn't go outside when the alarm went off. or, was that just me?