Monday, July 15, 2013

Watching Your Dad Act Like a Teenager

When you get to watch your dad act like a teenager, he becomes less of your dad, and more-human. The other night my dad and I went in to Westpoint, a local bar, for dinner and drinks. He ended up seeing some old friends of his, who we later joined.

We sat with them, two men and their wives, and immediately they went to the past. One of the wives said "they always talk about the past." I was thinking how much I admired this. 

Whenever my friends and I, of about 13 years, get together we quickly resort back to high school talk. It's a lot better than talking about houses, babies, student loans, and jobs. To me at least. We talk about the stories when we were young and stupid. The stuff that makes our lives.

 ("Remember the time we...")

These three men were talking about times when they were in their twenties. About doing things they wouldn't think of doing now. Things that, as a daughter you wouldn't think your dad would do, but he did. Because it turns out that before he was your dad, he was a guy. And he was a fun guy. He did stupid things just like guys your age do. He did things that made his life funny. Made his life memorable. Memorable enough to talk about with old friends over 40 years later, just like it was yesterday, in a little bar in Jackson.