"Back when I was a boy" just rings with images of an old man recounting stories of his childhood without color TV, cell phones and iPods: "Everything was better back in the (fill in your decade)". But now that I've reached the ripe old age of 23, I find myself looking back with fondness on my childhood of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the original Nintendo (NES), neighborhood laser tag games, and sleep-overs. There's just something magical about childhood.
But why grow up? Sure it's cool to have the freedom to drive, set your own bedtime, and have a steady income...but why not have some of the joys of youth with the freedoms of "old age"? Now I realize that this philosophy has limits (nobody wants a 40-year old living in their basement vegging on anime and World of Warcraft), but with a little responsibility you can have the best of both worlds.
As unique as I may be, Christy and I have a lot in common. And so, on Friday night we decided that we were going to sleep out at Christy's parents' house - on the trampoline (and I want to say it was initially Christy's idea that I ran with...just for the record). And we did.
I was amazed at how comfortable sleeping on a trampoline can be. I always remembered the tossing, turning, and sliding into the middle (why I even wanted to sleep out is a mystery really), but I slept perfectly...until 4:30 A.M.
I became conscious when Christy rustled me awake because the sprinklers had turned on. I was pretty groggy and so I decided we were just going to burrow down under the huge pile of blankets and sleeping bags and wait out the "storm". Smart idea...yeah right. Not only could we not fall back asleep with the water hitting our protection every 10 seconds, but it wasn't long before the water started making it through. Even if our barrier had held up, I was dumb enough to leave my pillows unprotected.
Finally, Christy had the common sense to go inside. We used our 10 second gap wisely to dash to the back deck, only to find that someone had locked the sliding door that we had left open just in case. Brilliant! And to make matters worse, we had no key to the house and our car keys and phones were inside. Christy sat resignedly on a chair and looked like she might go to sleep, so I tried to formulate some plans. I managed to cap the sprinkler with a water bottle I found, but the bedding was toast by that point. I grabbed the only partially dry piece to warm my feet and resigned myself to sleeping on the deck.
Fortunately, Christy took pity on my situation (with a few of my convincing groans I'm sure) and came up with a real plan. A few taps on a front window brought us safety and warmth. And thus ended our youthful adventure - being rescued by a true adult.
We should have learned my lesson, but we haven't. We shall meet again trampoline - without your sprinkler friend! And our youthfulness will conquer!
I agree that being young and "youthful adventures" are things I don't want to give up, no matter how old I am. So long as I can avoid it. And as it is, even though we're just young twenties I still find myself in situations where I can say "we didn't have that in my time." For instances cell phones and texting in Junior High, fat chance. Back then it was dialup internet and MSN messenger, at best. And good old fashioned paper notes passed discreetly in the halls. I know you remember. And that's just one example.
ReplyDeleteGood times.