When Was I Suppose To Grow Up?

Articles

When Was I Suppose To Grow Up?

By Traci McLaren
Apr. 29, 2005

I was sitting in my home office the other day, and I came across my old year books from high school. As I flipped through the pages, I realized how full of hopes, dreams, and promises we all were. The innocence and youth were quite apparent as I sat at my desk, my thirtieth birthday lurking in the shadows.

My best friend in high school was Jayleen*. She and I were inseparable. We would sit up, late at night, and plan our futures together. We planned to marry two guys who were best friends, and live right beside each other in the houses that we had designed. We were each going to have two kids, one boy and one girl, and they were all going to be best friends. Jayleen and I were going to work together in the same office, full time before the kids, and part time after we had the kids. We were going to live happy and content, as best friends, forever.

Lucky for Jayleen, she got everything she wanted and more. She is now married to her high school sweetheart, and they have their two kids, a boy and a girl. She works full time in a city many hours from me, away from all her friends and family. She lives in her dream home that she has designed herself which no one around here has ever seen. We are no longer friends, and haven’t been since before high school ended. She seems happy, despite our falling out.

Almost fifteen years have passed since we were in high school, and, here I sit, in my office, reminiscing about our past together. I cannot believe how much has changed, and how few of my dreams actually came true. I am really starting to believe that I missed the boat. When was I suppose to grow up? Based on all the hopes and dreams that we had in high school, I have almost nothing. I don’t have a husband (tried it, didn’t like it). Instead, I decided to chase a dream of going to law school. I refuse to have children (have you seen some of the new generation?!). I don’t have any friends from high school, which really doesn’t disappoint me. My boyfriend is my one and only best friend, and he’s great at it. I have a job that keeps me young, and I even dance with my customers. I feel like I’m still eighteen. I own a house that is older than me, on the outside, but, on the inside, we’re the same age. Of all my hopes and dreams from the past, I have achieved only one – HAPPINESS.

*not her real name

------------

About the author: Traci lives in Canada, and has been an aspiring writer for as long as she can remember. She is currently working on her first manuscript.

Email: TraciandChris@hotmail.com

Tell a friend about this site!

------------

All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal).