Life

Do You Remember Hanging Out?

You know, when life was actually fun?

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People complain how hard it is to make friends in adulthood. They complain about how hard it is to find a date.

Maybe they should go back to hanging out.

Honestly, hanging out was the best. Remember going to a friend’s house without making any plans ahead of time? Maybe that didn’t happen after my Gen X childhood, but it was great.

It worked like this:

1. One of you would show up at the other’s house.
2. You would hang out.

That was all there was to it. You might listen to music. You might watch TV. If you were me, you might read books. You might eat snacks and talk. You might decide to head to yet another friend’s house and hang out there.

What you didn’t do:

1. Worry about whether your house or your friend’s house was clean enough for someone else to see it.
2. Call ahead to make arrangements.
3. Have any plans whatsoever.

It was one of the best things about dorm life. You could just walk down the hallway and find someone you knew with whom you could hang out.