The Disadvantages of Growing Up

Another weekend gone. They seem to follow the same process, don't they? Friday night arrives, great times are experienced, and we go to bed at an indecent hour because of the knowledge that we get to sleep as long as we want. Saturday dawns, calm, cool, and serene as we make our way out of bed and to whatever fits our fancy. Lunch, the futon, the computer, a movie on television, etc. All thoughts of work vanish as we become lost in the ease of our relaxation. But all too soon, it's time to go to bed. Sunday dawns, bright and early, and we head to church. We come back and grudgingly start on the work that is piled on our desks. Motivation is at an all-time low and the quality of assignments slowly declines. Yet we are unable to try harder simply because we don't want to. We've lost all desire to finish whatever it is we started and long to go back to that futon or that movie and simply give in to procrastination. Before we know it, we're waking up Monday morning, hating the fact that we have to repeat that process again.

Does time ever slow down? Why does it seem that the world only gives us fleeting glimpses of happiness and relaxation before it shuts those doors and floods us with work, stress, conflict, and responsibility? When will we be able to really enjoy a little quality time with ourselves? With friends? With family?

I'm off to supper. Try and enjoy these last few hours of freedom. Or maybe you should be responsible, unlike me, and get some work done. I've given up for tonight.

What makes us smile? What is it that causes us to laugh? Is our mind tickled by an image? A thought? An entity? Does a person, a friend, a family member, evoke such irrepressible joy that can't be contained by the boundaries of our lips? Does a memory trigger a roar that echoes within our very being and becomes so loud we must express it outside our material bodies? Does an action really speak louder than words, and in so doing, produce a part of us that we so desperately wish to hold on to?

A Beginning Thought

This is a little section cut out of a document titled "Thoughts" on my laptop. It was my first entry there, and it's now my first entry here. Just a few things to think about...

I find it truly amazing how our extreme highs can plummet to endless-pit lows in just a couple hours. You can be soaring to the highest heights when all of a sudden a thunderstorm comes out of nowhere, lights your wings on fire, and sends you hopelessly falling into an abyss of loneliness and depression. The ease of this transition from high to low is not reciprocated when trying to go from low to high. Never.

Unless there is something in your life, someone, that has the ability to catch you before that eternal abyss swallows you whole. That something, that someone, can make you fly to new heights that you never thought were possible, yet somehow knew that that special someone could help you reach. They have the biggest heart, the most welcoming arms, the softest shoulders, the most attentive ears, the brightest smile, the friendliest greeting, and the purest soul. They are truly our saviors. Our guardian angels. Our best friends.

But what if we lose him? What happens when she becomes someone, something, we cannot begin to understand? The one person who could rescue us from any danger - the one hope we had in a world filled with darkness, deceit, death, crime, and faults - the only thing standing between us and that abyss - now just a memory. Is nothing but a memory of the perfect friend better than our worst fears confirmed before our eyes? Can we live with someone who has changed so much? Would they do the same for us? Can we simply overlook our differences and continue on in life as if nothing has happened? Or is it our job as the protected to speak up? Do we fight for something, that someone, we hold dear to our hearts or sit idly by as they continue down a path we cannot follow? Again, I ask, would they do the same for us?