Housewarming

Hide and seek

Kids are welcome, the electronic invitation read—and plenty of kids were in attendance at a house warming party this afternoon. A nicely appointed place at the end of a modest and well kept street with plenty of trees. The weather was great. There were brats and metts and burgers with and without meats. Horses ran around on the TV. Packed coolers on the porch and cornhole in the backyard.

In the converging circles of friends I have, cocktails are fewer and priorities are shifting.

It’d be handy if someone just wrote a simple outline for life so we knew what to expect. Maybe we are aware all along, but refuse to abide by these invisible milestones — insisting upon experience.

Some rough thoughts I might refine later… or not:

• You’re going to chase the opposite sex or run from them on the playground. It’s okay. Embrace diversity, it can get boring without it.
• No, you’re not going to use long division that often.
• Don’t experiment with your hair, you will regret it.
• If you think no one knows how you feel, you aren’t listening to enough music or reading enough books.
• Anything you are not supposed to have seems very desirable. Get it out of your system and don’t let it rule your life.
• You may have kids, or some of your friends will. Plan accordingly.
• You may have pets, or some of your friends will. Pet the ones that don’t bite.
• Some things mellow with age.
• Mellow is not bad by any stretch of the imagination.
• Own your abode.
• Death happens.
• You have a choice in what you remember.
• Make it good.
• If you’re bored, do something else.
• Even if you can see your friends hiding behind that tree, play along. It’s more fun that way.

Hmm, that’s all over the place and I’m not sure where it’s going, but I suppose I’ll figure out more as I go along. Maybe I’ll revisit this in 10 years and have notions on elastic waistbands.