My son starts school on Monday. Yeah! July 30th, can you believe it? I grew up and went to school in Canada. We got out of school at the end of June and returned the day after Labor Day. In GA it’s so different. My son gets out at the end of May and goes back–well, late July early August. Seriously, it’s just insane, IMO.
The whole thing makes me harken back to the “good ole days”. Snort. I’m still amazed I’m old enough to use that term. How is it that when you’re young, you can’t ever imagine “getting old” (notice I didn’t say getting older). I miss my innocence–believing that marriage was this completely idyllic state of being and child-rearing was effortless. I miss my bikini days and the time when I could easily drop 10 lbs in the matter of weeks. I miss losing myself in a great book where the characters were all older than me and I couldn’t wait to be their age. LOL.
What I do appreciate about the here and now is that all that institutional schooling is behind me. I appreciate the wisdom and experience of getting older. While I miss that 6.6 lb little boy I brought home, I appreciate the 9-year-old boy who can drive me up a wall but has made me experience a love the likes I’ll never know again in my lifetime. I appreciate the mistakes I made (and they are many) and the lessons I learned. I appreciate being published when I was old enough to truly appreciate it what a blessing it was.
All in all, I’d say I have a pretty good life and very few regrets and much to look forward to. In about 30 years, this time will become my good “ole days” and I’m sure I’ll look back at this time in my life with just as much nostalgia and fondness.
What about you? What do you miss the most about your youth, your younger days? If you could turn back the hands of time, would you? Comment and enter to win the books below.
This is the first year I don’t have to deal with public school in over 20 years! I’m in Georgia, too, and the start date has moved forward incrementally through time until it’s just ridiculous. I can’t say I’m sorry we only have to worry about college dates, which really just become a year round thing and they’re basically in charge of it themselves. My favorite memories of school starting was getting done with the county fair right before the first day of school. In Nebraska, it made no sense to start before the fair was done! I wasn’t a farm girl, but I did spend some time with my friends in the livestock barn and I was a 4-H’er in sewing, home decorating and cooking. I have quite a collection of ribbons. Looking at my life now, I often find it hard to imagine that I was ever that person. People who know me now would probably find it amazing as well.
I miss the innocents of youth, but if I had a choice to go back not really. As much as there were times I loved and hated it’s best left in the past.
I miss the anticipation of events I had when I was younger.
I miss the freedom, the parties, the music, the good times…..I also miss friends who have passed away.
Sometimes, I wish I could go back and change things — decisions, choices, actions. But then I think, “I went through hell, yes, during this time period, but if I hadn’t went down that path, I would not have reached the place where I am today”. Nor would I have met my wonderful husband, my own hero and the love of my life. I certainly wouldn’t be the person I am today: smarter, more worldly, and definitely stronger.
I would turn back time to change some bad decisions I made. The thing I miss most about my youth is the excitement of things like holidays, the last day of school, vacation, even seeing my “summer friends”. Gosh, I miss those days.
I grew up in an easier environment–it was safer and more focused on people rather than things and experiences. For current youth, I wish there was a way to combine that ease of living with today’s greater opportunities. Would I go back? Nope. What’s done is done.
I miss the carefree days and not having so many responsibilites. I would love to be young again if I had the wisdom I have now.
Don’t we all want to be young again?? I don’t think I would change too much, but if I could tell my younger self something it would be too have more fun and stress less, because it will all work out. I was one of those who took school super seriously, work super seriously, and just life in general super seriously worried about my “permanent record” and my future lol. I think I would have worked less and slowed down a bit.
Most times I miss my younger years. I was so free, I could ran around naked without getting into trouble. My schools days and friends
I miss not having any true responsibilities but I would never go back to my childhood. I do wish I had done some things differently but then I imagine most people can say that. Hindsight is a wonderful thing lol.
I actually don’t want to be young again – I know, it sounds odd, but to go back and be ‘young’ again during this day and age, I think that is scarier than being old! I can remember believing in Santa Clause, playing with dolls and utilizing my imagination back when I was a kid – today, most kids are ‘teenagers’ by the time they are in second or third grade. My neice just turned 7 last month and she didn’t want ‘toys’ since she is going into second grade (yes, I did say “7”, not “17”). Her wish list was a mix of clothing, music, and expensive electronics…now when I was 7 I am sure my list included Barbies, paper dolls, candy and the only ‘electronics’ for home use was Simon. Anyways – no, I would not love to be young again…
There has been occasions when I have wanted to go back in time to re-do certain things in life but when it comes to the choice of going back or staying in the present, I guess I’ll just choose to stay where I’m at.
I miss the naivete, the wide-eyed innocence of living in a bubble. Knowing what goes on around the world is depressing.
If I could go back in time, then it would be to the days when my children were still very young. Maybe then I could have done something different with my son. He has turned into a very arrogant and controlling person, his word is law. He has not got any respect for me at all. I know in my mind that it’s really nothing I’ve done wrong. My daughter is the complete opposite of him, kind, sweet, supportive and loving, and has never disrespected me. 🙁
Diane, I’m not sure going back in time would help that. Unfortunately.
The one thing I would do differently if I could turn back time would be travel while I was still single and didn’t have children.
I miss the innocence and anticipation of the Easter Bunny and Santa Clause during my youth. I also miss the strength of body I used to have when I was younger. If I could go back in time, I wish my husband and I had moved away when we got married. The only problem is that not knowing what I know now, my decisions would have been the same.
I have liked every age I have been. Wouldn’t want to go back but I miss the “Happy Days” and the Fonzies in my circle of friends. I would like to have that kind of happy times for my grandchildren.
I would not turn back time.
The only thing I miss are pain free days.
I would actually go back to my days in high school or the beginning of college when I didn’t have a care in the world.
I miss going on a 3-5 week camping trip with my best friend. We were both teachers and we would go a different direction every year. We went to all the lower provinces in Canada from Nova Scotia and PEI to Pacific Rim National Park on Vancouver Island. We went to most of the northern United States. It was great! When I married, my husband was an indifferent camper and now that we’re in our 60’s, we don’t think we’d be able to get up in the morning after sleeping so close to the ground. 🙂 Last year I gave away my 4-man tent to a great niece and this year my 2-man Eureka Caddis to my grandson. I’m loaning our light-weight down Eddie Bower sleeping bags to our daughter and her husband. It’s really a giveaway, but that seems so final. 🙁 It was wonderful to be healthy and traveling all over and meeting people and, really, in the 70’s everything about camping was great!
I miss the summer days when my big sister and I splashed around in our swimming pool for half the day. They were such carefree days! I miss not worrying about mortgage payments and retirement plans. I never imagined I’d face losing my house because of a bad economy. I never imagined I wouldn’t be able to have kids. I miss feeling like I have my whole life ahead of me and that anything is possible. I miss the fun vacations my family and I used to take every summer. We went to a lot of great places.
While I do miss a few things from my youth (owning horses and living close enough to my friends to walk a few blocks to hang out) most of my childhood, my teen years, and early adulthood were a practice in pain and grief (not to put too fine a point on it, but I was molested, bullied, and abused). It was only up until a few short years ago that I reached a point in my life that wasn’t all misery and betrayal. I am with a man who loves me unconditionally and supports me on the days that I want to retreat into my shell. For the first time in my life I feel like I am free to be the person I always knew I was deep down but was never allowed to be. The only reason I would go back if I could, would be to go back in time and meet my “dream man” before I became “damaged goods” and thus prevent those tragedies from happening in my life as I would have had someone to “protect” me from them.
Time does seem to go quickly and there seem to be good and bad points to every age and family situation. The one thing I would never want to do again is raise a teenager because that was not fun.
I miss my energy and health most of all. I’ve too much to do caring for my aging parents and not enough time and energy to do it…
Please enter me for Lynsay Sand’s The Lady Is a Vamp 🙂
I loved when my kids were young, but I wouldn’t go back at all. I was fifteen and my husband was seventeen when we got married. Our daughter was born a month after we were married. So we have never had any time in our marriage where it was just us two, so now that they are adults and in their own houses, with their own families my husband and I are really enjoying our time together.
I’ve often thought that if I had a time machine, all I’d want to do would be to go back to when my son was a baby. I could give past me a rest while cuddling my sweet little guy once more. Siiigh.
If I could change one thing, I’d want my younger self to know that it is possible to lose weight and keep it off and that she could have avoided a crapload of problems if she’d done it before she was in her forties.
Other than that, I would hate to change anything that might change where I am now.
I miss the carefree days of recess and having actual time to read and watch tv.
I miss not having to worry about money, haha 😉 Such a load!
Beverly –
When I think of my “youth” I think of myself in my 20’s and I think of fun times instead of the hard times. I think of the days after my husband finished his duty with the Navy during Vietnam and the weight that lifted off my shoulders – that is until he joined the Navy Reserves and once again I worried about week-end and yearly deployments!
Somehow that didn’t over shadow the joy of having two toddler sons who knew only the joy of running around outside and the thrill of playing in the sand box! One of my favorite memories of them is the day I took movie pictures of them playing for the entire length of the film with a huge vinyl plastic can. Oh the fun they had (and fortunately it was clean!) tilting it over and crawling inside! The simple things in life seem to mean the most, the days of sitting in a rocking chair with them in my lap asking for “just one more book Mom!”.
How fast those days passed and how quickly they grew up! The teenage years were so much fun with their friends taking residence in our family room with our black and white TV while they all had big color TV’s at home. Even though I put their friends to work every time they came over and they always wanted to stay for dinner for a home cooked meal (even though they knew I’d make them help wash the dishes after dinner).
My sons are grown and with families of their own now and I love having those reading times with my grandchildren and those “teenagers” still stop by when they are in town but now for me to meet any new additions to their families – and to have some homemade cookies!
I don’t miss being really young and in high school….. I think I like being in my early 30s the best. I wasn’t as silly as I was when I was a teenager and not mature enough to worry about the future!
Aww, what a sweet post. And I can’t believe that he is starting so early!!!! Yikes!
I miss the good old days too, free to do what ever I want and no kids to worry about. But then I was young and dumb. Now I have an adoring husband, three wonderful (most of the time) children, and books when I can get to them. =)
What can I say, life is good and I like to think back to the good old days but will gladly leave them in the past.
Great post Bev!
I miss the music back then, the public swimming pool that was a block away from my house that I practicly spent the summer at! (which sadly has closed down). The tons of vacations I spent with my family. Things just seemed happier then! 🙂
How much easier and fun it was
I miss the carefree days of summer in my youth. I miss that feeling of not having to worry about anything except being home at a “reasonable hour”. In those pre-cellphone days, I never had curfew as long as I called my parents and told them where I was and who I was with. My biggest worry was what mischief my friends and I could get into: collapsing tents at girl scout camp, running along the roof of our school, which boy we liked at the time (we’d toilet paper his house!), staying up late watching scary movies. As the years progressed priorities changed, but mischief remained. Climbing the school was replaced with swing dance halls and who would partner with who, us girls would cover for each other as we snuck off with the boy we liked. Slumber parties and scary movies remained and the boys joined us there, too.
But (to steal a line for the Eagles), it was the “peaceful, easy feeling” that I miss most. No worries about work, or money, or mortgage. Even during school days the most I had to worry about was test scores and band competitions. Now all mu friends are scattered throughout the country living grown up lives with jobs and kids and husbands. As much as I love what I do & all I’ve experienced, I still miss the “good ‘ol days” with my friends causing trouble and having fun.
I miss my younger joints and energy! If I could go back, knowing what I do now, there are certainly some things I’d do better.
I would love to be 25 again, but wouldn’t want to turn the clock back, except on my body. To be that thin again would be wonderful, but more important would be the health knee and hip joints. They interfere with activities we have always enjoyed. There are a few situation I wish I had handled differently and wouldn’t mind changing those. When my husband discovered he had a serious form of cancer, we took a serious look at our lives and were surprised to find we had few regrets about the way we had lived our lives. It was a good feeling. He beat the odds and 21 years later still is. I figure everything happens for a reason. You may not always agree with that or appreciate it, but so be it. For example, we couldn’t convince our daughter she was making a mistake with her first marriage. It lasted only about 3 years. The good part of it all is the absolutely wonderful son she has from the short marriage. I got a wonderful grandson and she learned what to look for in a husband. She has now remarried, and got it right the second time.
I miss having a lot of energy and less aches and pains!
I miss my college years. It was fun learning different things, meeting new people, making new friends, deciding on a career. It was a great learning experience for me educationally and socially. Plus a met my future husband my Senior year. I felt safe walking to my classes and to evening events.
I missed that I didn’t have a care in the world when I was a teen and I knew I would come home to hot dinner served by my mom.
I miss the young and healthy body I had and that never ending energy. I’d also turn back the time to shake my younger naive self who believed love would last forever, instead of ending up a single parent with 6 of my 7 kids. I’d also go back and eradicate the bone cancer my 7 year old came down with and spent 1 year hospitalize wit 5 Chemos a day. But my baby is 25 today and she’s still with me and healthy. So that’s a miracle I always, always be thankful for in that the good Lord let her stay.
But all in all I’m glad I’m in my Golden years. 🙂 Just to read and chill whenever I want, finally.
Carol L.
Lucky4750 (at) aol (dot) com
I miss the simpler times, bike riding, walking to friends’ homes, staying out and never a worry. Summers that last forever.
When I was younger, I longed to be older and have the independence to do the things I wanted without having to ask for permission —
Now that I’m older, I wish for the worry-free days of youth — when I had no responsibilities or obligations to others.
Been there, done that and don’t want to do it again. I’m happy with my life as it is and where it is on my life timeline. Of course, I’m retired now, so everyday is Sunday! In fact, I really need a calendar to tell me just what day it really is.
There are a few regrets, but not that many. I wish I had travelled more and had more adventures, when my days were pain free.