Is Anyone Having Fun?

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When speaking with my dear friend, Trish, last week about returning to, say, our teenage years, I asked her, “What would you have changed?”

She responded, “I wish I would have had more fun!”

Trish and I met when we were both 22. We were young, had just graduated college, and got jobs in a research facility. We carpooled in together and listened to 80’s music. We would hang out at the local bar afterward, enjoying time with our coworkers. We have been through dating, marriage, kids, and whatever else life has brought us. And yet, we are still friends to this day!

Trish’s mother died of cancer when she was 11. Her dad was a single parent, and the bills kept piling up. Her dad could not afford her or her two sisters to join activities, clubs, etc. I can relate. My parents got divorced when I was 12. My mother and father remarried shortly after that, and money was ALWAYS tight. So when it came to family vacations or extracurricular activities, etc., it NEVER happened. Same with her.

When I graduated high school, I was very motivated to go to college and get a decent job, so I ended up “nothing like my parents,” which is what Trish had said. Now that we are both 44, she would say she made the right decision, but looking back, we didn’t have time to have fun because we had to work multiple jobs, save money to afford to go to college…