“We’ve Gone From Playing House to Doing Shots:” On Old Friends & Growing Up

It was a saxophone party...

“May the past be the sound of your feet upon the ground.”

-fun.

Yesterday was a bit of a nostalgia day for me. It was funny, strange and comforting all at the same time. I say this with the following thoughts in the back of my mind: I have friends getting married, friends having babies and friends buying houses. There are moments when, despite knowing its the furthest thing from the truth, I feel like I’m lagging behind: I’m single (with no prospect of that changing), just starting a new job again and admittedly, I’m focusing a lot on myself. But hey – I might get a dog, so there’s that…

After work yesterday, I got together with my friend Amy, who I’ve known since our days at Bowmanville Senior Public School. We did a lot together – we were in all the same bands, had a lot of classes together (we spent Grade 7 and Grade 8 together, plus a number of classes in high school) and went on all the same trips. By virtue of being together a lot during those days, we have a lot of the same friends. We went to dinner and it kind of hit me (and her too) that we’re growing up: we talked about my new job, we talked about her finishing up her placement as a student teacher and we talked about all of our friends who were doing what I already mentioned: having babies, getting married, buying houses, etc… We had a few laughs about how we were getting “old” and maturing. I don’t think either of us would have thought, all those years ago when we were in Ms. Bradford’s class, that this is where we would end up.

The evening became even more nostalgic when my roommate (whom I’ve known for nearly 20 years) and our friend reached the pub. Our server was a friend of ours who, again, we’ve known for nearly 20 years (and is technically my ex-wife, due to our playground marriage from years ago). While we spent a lot of time talking about what was new in our lives, there was a natural tendency to reminisce on the “days of yore.” We did a shot together – and that’s where the title from this blog post came from. Because, three of the four of us at the table did start our friendship in the kindergarten classroom: we quite literally went from playing house to doing shots together. While it was a bit of a surreal experience, it was also some bit of a comfort to know that, whatever happens in life, there are those friends in your life who are rocks.

In talking with a new friend regarding this blog post, he said that someone else had mentioned the same kind of feelings to him: about growing “old” and it being strange. For me, as I said to him, it’s a very cyclical thought process. Every so often, the feelings about getting older and moving in to the next phases of my life cross my mind and I get a bit nostalgic. It’s nice to know I’m not the only one that goes through something like this.

I also learned in my conversation with my friend, when telling him about the post I was writing, that there are little things we begin to notice that are signs we’re getting older: one of the funnier ones (but one that is totally true) is noticing that we can’t drink like we used to, yet we try and do it anyways. It’s the little things like that, which we do in an effort to hold on to the past and deny the fact that we’re maturing and entering the next stage of our lives.

My new goal is to embrace and tackle the changes that come with what happens to everybody: growing up. It’s not going to be easy and I can guarantee that I won’t handle it with grace all the time, but that’s just how life is. As that 70’s TV theme goes: “You take the good, you take the bad and there you have the facts of life.”

Sidebar

The video below is the song from which I pulled the quote to lead off this article. I’ve written about fun. before, but you MUST check out their new album.