It's Late, Could You Please Leave?

I have always enjoyed hanging out with college students. When I was a college student I thought it was pretty cool to be around younger people and it never wore off. I think part of it is that once you pass a certain age most people quit having fun. You know what happens to them. They get all responsible and everything.
I don’t want you to think that there is anything in the world wrong with being responsible. I know it is a good thing. It is just that sometimes being responsible can get all in the way of a good time. Now don’t go saying that I am advocating fun over responsibility. It is just that having fun is more …pleasurable than being responsible. Well it is for me anyway.
Now, when I say that most people my age have quit having fun, I really mean that they won’t go to movies with me, and they won’t go on a road trip with me or anything like that. When my wife and I go to other people’s houses to visit we have to be careful not stay too long. If we do they will say things like, “Wife, lets go to bed so these good people can leave,” or “please come again when you can’t stay so long.” We weren’t trying to be rude. We just wanted to have a good time. You see what I mean? Something happens when you get older.
The other night we had a whole lot of people over at our house. We were having a great time. We had some sort of chicken curry and rice dish. We just went up to the giant pots and got out what we wanted. We had enough for everybody. We really did. It was amazing how we all ate and talked and ate some more. I was having a really good time and then I looked up at the clock. It was ten, and I remember thinking, “Oh my, its really late.” That’s when I realized I had crossed over the divide. You know the divide between young and cool and old and boring; the one that says that 10 o’clock is really late. I don’t really know when I crossed it, but I did.
It kind of reminds me of a story my friend Jeff told me about the time he went skiing with some of his friends. Apparently they were cruising through Kansas listening to some really cool 70s music like Grand Funk Railroad and missed the left turn to Colorado. They were just having a good time singing and talking and having a great time. It wasn’t too terribly bad. When they crossed into Nebraska they fixed the mistake.
Anyway, that is how I feel. I feel like I crossed the line between young and cool and old and boring and I didn’t even realize it until I looked at the clock and thought that 10 o’clock was late. I mean as a kid there used to be these commercials that said, “It’s 10 o’clock, do you know where your children are?” I thought it was kind of silly because I was right there in the living room with my parents so I didn’t see what the big deal was. It was a big deal though because that was when I felt like I had really scored a big one by tricking my parents into letting me stay up till a really cool time. Of course at that time in my life they just sent me to bed. I didn’t want to go to bed. I was really young and staying up was fun. If I stayed up just a little bit longer I would be able to see Johnny Carson on the Tonight Show. That did not happen very often and when it did I never got to stay up past the monologue.
Anymore, when I see that it is 10 o’clock I get really anxious if I am not sleepy. I don’t care if I get to see the Tonight Show or not. Partly that is because I liked Johnny Carson better than Jay Leno, and the other part is that I would rather go to sleep if I can. If I have to stay up that late I watch David Letterman. I don’t stay up that late very often anymore because I really just hope I can get up in the morning without too much of a fuss.
This all really does have a point. A really important point, at least to me. You see I wanted to know when things had changed. When did I miss the turn that would keep me young and cool and avoid old and boring? I had to know. So I asked Jeff. Yes, it was the same Jeff that got lost on his way to Colorado. I know it may not be smart to ask a guy for directions that ends up in Nebraska instead of Colorado but that’s what friends are for. He said “I don’t know when you took the turn away from being young and cool but I missed that turn too.” Then he said something really important; “I don’t worry about that anymore. All I know is that of all the places I could be, none are as pleasing to me as being here at home with my wife and the girls.” Yes, that is when the epiphany happened.
All of a sudden I knew when I got off the young and cool highway. It happened when I got a boring job to support a family that I loved with all my heart. I wasn’t just that 10’clock was late. I was tired. I had to get up at 5:30 the next morning. Being late was not the big deal. It was getting up early. I had changed my focus. It is easy to stay out late when you are the most important thing in your life. I mean when it is all about you, you can get up late if you want just cause you want to. You can miss work if you want to just because you can. You can even get fired without having a nervous breakdown because you know you can always go live with mom and dad in a pinch. But then you go and love something with all your heart. And you have children you love with all your heart and they spoil all your fun. But you don’t miss it, because you have a love that fills the gaps better than staying out late ever could.