Half My Life

I have a very vivid memory of an August day, 15 years ago, sitting on a picnic table outside my high school (neither the picnic table nor that portion of lawn is still there - in fact, the new fine arts complex and school entrance sits on that very spot).

I was sitting with two seniors - Heather and Becky, and my friend McKinzie. We were lowly sophomores. We were eating Little Ceasars Pizza - one of the few times I went out for lunch in high school (we had an open campus, but about half the students brought their lunches and stretched out in a mass picnic along one of the main hallways).

I remember Becky saying, "In 9 months I am out of here - I cannot wait!" I thought, "In a little over 2 1/2 years, I am out of here - and I'm not ready!" Though I probably would have submitted to Chinese Water Torture before ever admitting something so blasphemous.

At that time the most important things were my insane forensics schedule, surviving whatever math class I was in and the great injustices that seem to plague all teens. There was also a great deal of wailing and gnashing of teeth about being too young to drive or date. And a sense of wide-eyed adventure, after four torturous years of middle school/junior high. (On a side note, NO kid should ever be subjected to 4 years of middle/junior high school - the horrors!)

Looking back - everything seemed so ... simple. I hadn't started working yet (my first job would come the following summer). It was school, homework, chores and ... whatever my mind could dream up - including a stint in the school play. There was nothing to complicate things - the biggest drama was whatever romance my best friend was in the middle of at the time.

I wonder if simplicity is something given to children and teens only or if there is even a slight chance of recapturing that simple mid-day, late-summer lunch where the Now seemed so much better than the Future.

That was half a lifetime ago - and yet it seems shocking to admit that. And shocking that such a random memory is seared in my mind in such pristine detail.