There are times
when I hear a song on the radio or my iPod and I wonder what situation, event
or conversation inspired it to be written. Similarly, I am then inspired to
make up a story in my head about how it came to be. Hours of entertainment can
be and have been gleaned from this; And it’s exactly how I came up with the
idea for this blog. As I listened to my iPod at work, I weaved a connection
between the songs as they shuffled along.
There
come times in life when we are given more freedom than we’ve ever had before
and the least amount of responsibilities than we ever will have. There are no
parents, no curfews. No one cares if we stick to our commitments or not. It
comes down to what we feel inclined to do or not do.
This
time for many of us comes in the form of college, for others it comes merely in
the time post-high school graduation. It presents many opportunities and
experiences to learn both inside and outside the classroom, to…experiment with our
style, with our major, with alcohol and with sex. The combination of all this
freedom and the lack of anything more than basic responsibilities to ourselves
or anyone else is intoxicating. It leads to many new experiences, a lot of
mistakes, and even more memories as we fumble our ways into adulthood - some of
which look a little something like this…
In
many cases, this phase of our lives comes after years of strict self-discipline
and a serious amount of repressed impulses. So when given the heady cocktail of
freedom, opportunity and what may seem to be few repercussions for our actions,
it is no wonder that Blue County can so aptly sing how “good little girls make some mighty wild women.” It’s all about these good, innocent, young girls who
are their “momma’s baby” and their “daddy’s pride and joy” who then grow up and
want to “take it to the limit”, giving into many, if not all of those
previously repressed impulses.
That
is…until one day a certain boy walks into the picture and the lyrics to Carly
Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” start dancing in our minds as we run around for
the next days and weeks with cartoon hearts floating out of our eyes. We will
do everything the relationship bible, He’s
Just Not That into You, says we should never
do - like waiting by the phone for him to call. Because it is nearly impossible
to not think that we are the
exception when our hearts are so full of hope , we decide that we have to “keep on dreamin, even if it breaks your heart” just like the Eli Young Band tells
us to. We
believe that our lives have been put on some kind of serendipitous path to
finding this person. We know, like Brian McComas and so many others before us, that
we are “99% sure I’ve never been here before.”
How we can go from the
freedom-intoxicated, sex-crazed coeds to the starry-eyed lovebirds looking for
our first jobs and hearing wedding bells is beyond any other period of growth
(mental, physical and emotional) we’ve experienced thus far and maybe ever
will. We develop in leaps and bounds and realize in retrospect just how crazy,
irresponsible and dangerous our behavior once was. It makes us wonder how we
ever survived (relatively) unscathed, let alone made it out alive. Yet, it is always a good time to share and laugh
about all the stories and memories we have of all those stunts and shenanigans
we pulled back in the glory days when we had more freedom and less
responsibility than we ever would again.
