Inside the

No one told me I would forget the best days of my youth! And no one told me those would actually be some of the best days, either.

There are so many forgotten moments. So many memories that I know are tucked away somewhere in my mind, but I just can’t seem to reach them anymore.

It’s not until I scroll through TikTok videos and come across a video playing hits from the 80’s or showing clips from Dance Party USA, that little pieces of my past come rushing back.

Sometimes, those memories hit me hard.

When I hear Debbie Gibson’s hit “Lost In Your Eyes” or Cheap Trick’s “The Flame,” I get overwhelmed with a strange sense of sadness. Not because they remind me of anything in particular, but because I know I’ll never get that time back. I really wish I had lived a little more.

All I have are flickers of a life I once lived.

Is it normal to long for those days so much?

Here I am… decades later, wishing I could go back to that time. Wait…did I just say decades? With an “s?” Ugh…How? How is that possible? I remember wanting to grow up so badly. I couldn’t wait to turn 18 and then 21.

My mom always told me that when I got older, I would wish time to would slow down because the years fly by. Yep, here I am thinking it every single day.

The crazy thing is…those weren’t necessarily the happiest days of my life. My teenage years with my mom were rough sometimes. We had plenty of fights. Two strong-willed females living under one roof together, and of course, I thought I was already grown.

I really think that all of this has been weighing on my mind so much lately is for two reasons.

Well for one, the older the harder it gets to remember the past, and I’m desperately trying to keep some of those memories alive.

Second, my daughter graduated high school and then went off to college in August, bringing back so many feelings and memories from my college days, which will definitley be so different than hers. I told her to live her best life, and enjoy these years. I truly hope she does. Luckily, she can document her life through pictures and social media.

I don’t think I really appreciated my high school and college years as much as I should have. Don’t get me wrong; I had a lot of good times and made a lot of memories. Well, I’m pretty sure I did. I just can’t remember too many.

But I know now I could have done more, experienced more, and could have been so much more.

If I had to give a young person a little advice, it would this: Live your best life. Take lots of pictures. Don’t put adventures off for another day because that day is not promised. Don’t sweat the small stuff. Make memories, and enjoy every moment of your life.

Because if there is one thing I have learned, it’s that time waits for no one.