Sunday, February 22, 2009

youth is wasted on the young


photo by Portlandground.com


There is something so .... young about this picture, don't you think? It just seems like a compilation of all the places I've lived since I was eighteen. The type of vehicles, the rental properties.

On weekends, I would hear music coming from some of the houses, fighting from some of the others. The scent of someone BBQing pork chops would drift through the neighbourhood, mixed with the pungent aroma of someone's weed.

In a way, I miss those days.

Do you ever think back to when you were nineteen or twenty years old, and try to imagine what your reaction would be if you could see what you'd be like at forty-four? I always freak myself doing this. Imagine knowing about future relationships, or hardships. Imagine knowing what you'd look like! At the very least, I could console myself in the knowledge that I'd have good shoes.

It's not a bad day for a Sunday, although it could be warmer. It's been hovering around -10°C (or 14°F) and looks like snow. Hopefully it won't snow until we get home from visiting my mom.

Have a nice Sunday.

22 comments:

  1. I sometimes wonder if I knew then what I knew now if I would do things different... probably, but then again, probably not. Life was soooo different way back when *sigh*

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  2. That is why we have memories to remember the good times, I would rather not know what is coming and just try to take things as they come for better or worse, but I do miss those care free single days!

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  3. Could be warmer????!!!! Yes, it could be warmer!

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  4. I have started and erased three different replies. You have an incredible knack for posting on thoughtful topics, day-after-day.
    If my 19-year-old self had known what my life would be like as a 44-year-old it would have sped-up my coming-out by a few years. And I probably wouldn't have erroneously believed that Thing2 was visiting our dorm because she liked my badminton teammate better than she liked me. :)

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  5. I have been thinking on this subject a lot lately. Too bad there is no way to warn our younger selves about the future. Of course we wouldn't be who we are now, would we?

    Did that make sense?

    Have a great week, Kate.

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  6. Good shoes count for much! And I'd cringe if I were 18 and could see who/what I am now.

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  7. I like that pic.. way colorful and cheery

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  8. Kate, since most of you have not added that slideshow gadget it's hard for me to really know what you really look like, but I suspect that you look pretty good.

    So, I don't think you would have had too much to complain about at 19 if you could have known what you were to look like now.

    Me, I would have vomited, then shot myself, and not just because of my looks.

    You've had some very difficult trials and tribulations, Kate, but you're still lovely, charming and very intelligent.

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  9. I just couldn't imagine being forty four when I was twenty but if I had, I very well might have moved away.

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  10. LOL, yes, it sure could be warmer!!

    I miss the olden days of years gone by back in the old neighborhood, too!

    It's been 60* and sunny/cloudy all day and evening here in St Pete.

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  11. I'm 35 and can't imagine what it'll be like in my 40's and in my 20's I couldn't imagine what it'd be like in my 30's. Age scares me. I think about myself who I am now, not how old I am.

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  12. the pic looks like old Bailey Ave. in Buffalo. you gave a great description of "life in the burbs." past and present tense.

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  13. I freak myself out a lot thinking about stuff like that. Youth is indeed wasted on the young. We believe so much and don't question enough.

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  14. I like that quote! Also, "Young people, always think they're going to live forever... then one morning they wake up dead."

    My long-term financial plan has always been to die young, and in these troubled economic times it has never been more applicable.

    I'd scare myself too much thinking of what I might become, and all that I'd fail at, by the time I'm 40.

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  15. I don't like looking back.

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  16. I do wish I had slowed down when I was younger and enjoyed life in a more appreciative way. Although it's taboo to say, I would love to go back and make several changes to my 20 year old self, give her a good strong lecture.
    So, now I'm 36 and I wonder when I get to 50 if my 50 year old self will want to shake her 36 year old........

    Tis a circle~
    Rebecca

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  17. If I knew then what I know now......I probably wouldn't have made it this far.....I probably would have been more daring and taken more risks.

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  18. Time is the fire in which we burn. It's true.

    25 years ago I got my ass chewed by my future father in-law for making a callous joke about someone acting as if they were a 60 year old man. I was 22 at the time and my father in-law was 47, the same age I am now.

    Guess what, I blinked, and now I am 47 and my father in-law is 72 years old.

    Back then, I couldn't even imagine being 60 years old, it just seemed so far away into the future. Now, it's less than 13 years away for me. Do you know how fast 13 years will go by for me? Try half a blink.

    Yeah, I'm scared because at my age I can pretty much guess that there are fewer days ahead than are behind.

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  19. Thanks everyone!
    I imagine I look okay for a woman of 44, although I'm heavier than I thought I'd be. The most important thing is that my husband thinks I'm beautiful (therefore I am) and that I am very happy in this marriage.
    I'm disappointed with my career, though.

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  20. I would be shocked at what I have become. With the economy being like this I very well could be going back....

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  21. My wife was my girlfriend so she is a constant from that age....I feel younger as a result

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  22. Thats an awesome pic.I am terrified to see what I will look like at 44.You on the other hand look fabulous!

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