You would think after living in a college town for almost 20 years, I would remember NOT to go to the grocery store on the Sunday that students return from spring break…but no. We were out of everything except ketchup and jelly, so it was non-negotiable.
At least by this point in the school year, the students have gotten a little better about shopping. In the fall, Sunday afternoon shopping means getting stuck behind a gaggle of awkward teens trying to remember the ingredients for spaghetti and screaming “ERHMAHGERD!” every time they see something they can eat now without having to ask their mothers’ permission. Tonight, my only snag was when I needed to get new toothbrushes for the kids and instead I got to hear a long-winded exegesis of the differing awfulnesses of toothpaste flavors, because there’s like this one? That this one time? My cousin came for the weekend? And she was like–literally–SCREAMING “this tastes so awful!” and she was spitting and screaming and it’s was the most awful thing ever. EVER.
That trip to the store got me thinking about being 19 again. Most of it, you couldn’t PAY ME to go back to. But a few things were great about 19. What was your favorite?
Coughing isn’t a problem. Sneezing, however…
Yeah, I call that “the ole sneeze-n-pee.”
Footloose and fancy free. The world was my oyster and i was going to discover every corner of it. Hope for the future was brighter than ever, all i had to do was go get it. The innocence of youth. Had no idea about divorce, heart-ache beyond measure, rehab, jail, total destruction of self, self-loathing, loss of all things important, bankruptcy, foreclosures and the end to a career i had worked so hard for and loved. But it took what it took to get to the sneeze n pee. And i’m more thankful today for the things i have. Also thankful i’m not stressing over toothpaste flavors at Kroger.
Amen. It all looked so easy from the lofty heights of 19! I’m so glad that you are in touch with your own story now, and that you keep writing new chapters.
Mostly, I miss my knees. And my agility.