We Were Young Once, Too

Today, I found some old pictures of me and your daddy.

It made me remember life before you, which I quickly forgot last July when I found out I was pregnant.

Your daddy and I used to do lots of fun things before work, money, and sleep/eat schedules got in the way. 

We would hang out with our friends until 2am.

We went to races and concerts. 

We went bowling and to movies.  

We went to football games and baseball games.

We had parties.  

We went on trips to New Orleans whenever we could and spent too much time on Bourbon Street.  

We could drop everything and drive down to the beach when we were in Dothan for the weekend (that’s where your daddy asked me to be his girlfriend).  

We didn’t have to plan a week in advance for a date night.

We had no schedule, no agenda, no ties.

We were fun.

By the time you read this, you probably will think we are ancient old folks who were never cool and control your life.  We surely don’t understand how you feel and what you’re going through.  We don’t understand the need to skip class because you’re tired or you want to hang out at the pool with your buddies.  We don’t understand why you spend so much money because having a social life is expensive.  We don’t understand why you need to go on that trip on Spring Break. 

Life is so complicated, isn’t it?

But your daddy and I have been there, done that. 

I can assure you that we were fun.

But we grew up.  Somewhere along the line, keeping the power on and buying groceries became more important than spending money on bar tabs and Taco Bell.  Having a career meant getting up at the buttcrack of dawn, or, in your daddy’s case, coming home at the buttcrack of dawn.  Spending time with just each other was more fun than getting a big group together.

Preparing a life to bring you into the world trumped it all.

One day you are going to reach this realization also.  You’ll find a man who makes you want to be fun, but in a different way.  Fun as in buying your first home, getting a puppy, and having a baby.  Fun as in throwing wedding and baby showers for your friends.  Fun as in looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas so you can see your family.  Fun as in dropping the baby off with a sitter so you can steal away with your husband for a few hours. 

Yes, life is a new kind of fun since you were born.  Just now, our fun ends around 9pm so we can get you to bed on time because you wake up at 6 every morning.

So, I promise, Brooke Allen, when you think we don’t understand what it’s like to be young and spontaneous, we actually do.

You’re just more important.