I wish I would have known, at the time, how much fun I was having. Oh, I was enjoying myself and that was evident to me. But I didn’t realize during those college years that getting out of school and having a job was going to require so much time and effort and attention. People actually expect me to work and be productive every day as a condition of giving me a paycheck, it’s nuts!
So, I tell my son—who will be starting college this year—to cherish every moment. I tell him, “Pay attention to the little things because they go quickly. These will be some joy-filled, fun and low-stress years of life.” [Of course, that’s assuming that you choose your classes with the same strict attention to “lack of difficulty” that I did.]
But right after the words “pay attention . . . ” come out of my mouth he has already left the room and the rest of the deep and profound advice that I offer is left unheard.
When I try again, later, to speak these words of great wisdom to him, he simply stares at me with a look of sadness and pity.
“Mom,” he tells his mother, “he’s trying to be profound again. I think he’s been reading fortune cookies, or something.” And he turns up the volume on his I Pod while I stand outside tapping on the window. (They keep telling me they’re going to give me a key to the house one of these days. That’ll be cool, if that happens.)
I think back and wistfully ponder those college years. I wish someone would have told me to savor them more fully. But, then again, if someone would have, I probably would have turned up the volume on my “record player” as I put the gigantic, bulky headphones over my ears and continued listening to some awesome “Foghat”.
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