To Be a Teenager Again
I will spare you from the why and how I got stuck with a teenager on a forever-long road trip, but bottom line… I was in a car with a teenage boy for over 10 hours. (Also, more on that drive coming soon…)
Actually, the word, “stuck” is unfair to my company because I didn’t feel that way at all. I hope that he forgives me for the less than appealing description. As a matter of fact, I spent about a week with the kid and I’ve got to admit, it was kind of refreshing to have that energy around again. Don’t get me wrong. Teenage angst is alive and well! But in talking to him, he admitted that he gets worked up quite easily, which I thought was mature beyond his years. To already be that self-aware… I don’t think I had that going on at 16 years old! At one point, I offered up my own unsolicited wisdom. ”That’s the nice thing about getting older. I just let that stuff go.” He joked (but in that not really jokey tone) that it’s fun to be a teenager in angst! Hmmm… I don’t ever recall having fun when I get frustrated over the little things… but ok! I suppose that’s his prerogative.
What I did find refreshing was in part, because of his own conversations with his sweetie back home. I didn’t want to eavesdrop, but he was sitting in the front passenger seat afterall, and he was obviously ok with me sitting right next to him while chatting with sweetie. I told him after one of his conversations ended, “You sure aren’t at a lack for conversation.” He said, “How can you run out of things to talk about?” Apparently the over-an-hour-long convo was one of their shortest yet. From my perspective, he was just so interested in what she had to say. She let him talk about skinny jeans, rockin out to 80′s music (with me), and burger joints around town. It wasn’t about responsibilities- having to find storage, having to find a new tenant, having to replace the garbage disposal. Blick.
That’s why it’s invaluable to my well-being that I go on my annual girls trip. Girls I’ve known since we were teenagers. Now that there are marriages, mortgages, and newborns in the mix, we have to plan several months in advance just to spend a few nights together. That’s when time stands still and we revert back to the more carefree part of ourselves. On laughs alone- it’s worth it!
