A Young Man's Game

I am not a 24 year old, though I often wish that I was. I want to indulge in the lifestyle of my youth but I cannot. I feel like Tom Hanks in Big, a young man trapped in the body of somebody who's much older with much more responsibility than I should.

It's not that I'm decrepit. Sometimes the wants of the younger me conflict with the needs of the elder me. Take for example this Halloween weekend. My favorite band is coming to Southern Califorina to play a 3 day festival. It sounds completely awesome and is something that if my life were completely my own I wouldn't hesitate to do. But my life no longer belongs to me alone. It's Halloween weekend and there is no way I could or would miss out on that day with my kids. They could be crushed. I'm kind of bummed to have to miss it, but honestly it's for the best. They're probably saving me in the long run because the physical toll of three days of living like it's Woodstock would most likely take weeks to recover from.

I have to face the sad fact that I can't bounce back like I used to. I was talking with a friend of mine about the old days when we would say up till dawn with Red Bull and booze coursing through our veins. She's still single and mentioned that we should all go out like that again. I looked at her as if she had more than the normal amount of appendages. We didn't even start those nights till 10pm. Most nights these days, I'm passed out on the couch by 10:30, Family Guy reruns playing in the background while a small line of drool runs down my face. (Sexy image, huh ladies?)

I still think like a young man, but I traded in that lifestyle the day the first umbilical cord was cut. Kids don't care if you've been up all night. They won't stop soiling their diapers just cause you're hung over. Their hunger doesn't subside cause you need a nap.

What about you? What do you miss most from your pre-parent lives?