the good ole days

I was driving home in the rain tonight after sitting for 2 hours at a dance lesson.  Tomorrow, I will be accompanying five 11 year olds and one 9 year old to the science museum.  Sunday, I will be fitting in church, skiing, and oh yeah, the kids climb with their peps that day.  I'm no martyr and I fit in quite a bit for myself but I was musing about the things I miss (that is the danger of a 2 hour dance lesson when you are not the dancer)....not as a mom but as a middle-aged person with responsibilities on all fronts.

I miss reading the Sunday paper for hours.  Was the news more riveting 20 years ago and so took a more concerted effort?  Thinking of the Sunday paper leads into all those leisurely Sunday brunches; banana pancakes in Austin, beignets in New Orleans, green chili breakfast burritos in Albuquerque, and of course, Jazz brunch in Cambridge. 

I miss week-ends devoted to just one thing.  Like riding my bicycle from Austin to Shiner, Texas.....82 miles in one day.  If memory serves me, I was so exhausted once I got there, I tried to get arrested so I could rest.  As a footnote, you have to do more than pee in a bush to get arrested in Shiner, Texas.  How about all those climbing week-ends?  Glorious because that is all we did....we climbed in the week so we would have the stamina to do multi-pitch climbs in the Gunks and in the White Mountains.  We slept by the side of the road and ate power bars on the cliff all day.  As a footnote, power bars plug you right up.

I miss staying up all night dancing with Jen in our vintage garb and eating breakfast before heading to bed.

I miss travelling.  Driving through the night to go skiing in Colorado or to see the sunrise over the canyons in West Texas.  Driving out west on a stretch of road between Lubbock and Clovis where there is nothing but road.  Feeling the peace of that.

I think we can be in the moment, and love our lives and community and family and all the things we are doing and still take a moment every now and then to remember those hell raising days.  I can stand up to an angry adolescent who is threatening to take out the principal because I waited tables at Abel's.  I can stand in the rain at my son's soccer game because I rode and climbed in the rain back in the day.  And I can damn sure appreciate a Shiner Bock beer, good enchiladas, and now...New England Clam Chowda.  It's all part of the mix.

What do you miss?