Young You & If I Only Knew

Reminiscent of the past you found sweet with sticky ice cream in the Summer heat, when sweat was a cool release from the active day you wore yourself thin dreaming of adventures as carefree as the mismatched clothing you were likely dawned in. Well maybe not that far back for today’s thought, but the classic: If I only knew then what I know now, right? Everyone has submitted to that reality that eventually hits you mentally like you wish you could have hit yourself physically back in those moments that brought the notion to life. Not to say strife and mistakes are not key in building a person, but I can say with all firmness a person without regret is one of foolish hues painted in the most abstract of facades. The reality of a situation is never quite so honest as it is after the fact, when you are no longer a pawn on the board. With that I begin the discovery of can I become wise before a situation should arise where I need to be? What a doozy of an idea isn’t it? Let us cast back to a teen mean me, what would I say…OH I have plenty to tell her like what the hell was this phase of torturously thin eyebrows you had to squint to see or WHY THE HELL did you think Coyote Ugly was a good movie? Let’s be real here, a mid 20 something leaving her father’s house for the first time only to become a karaoke-ing bartender at a dive while being groped on is not the dream of literally anyone, and I mean anyone. Yes, that movie is not the Right Kind Of Wrong that our leading lady goes to sing to us, and as the song goes “loving you isn’t really something I should do”; my adolescent ears should have heeded said wise words. Strong woman empowerment movie, I think not, which goes to show how wise a a teen can be with life outlooks. Don’t mistake my critical take on this 2000 leather loving lady flick with hating the film, I don’t, I’ll pull on some boots and stomp myself into a hot sweat over Charlie Daniels’ “Devil Went Down To Georgia” when the time is right. But the basics of what I truly would want to shout back in my own ear sound a little something like that fire you have to persevere is the most precious trait you should hold fast to. Listen here you! me! us! we’ve got endless moments to learn from and starting off with believing anything is unimportant is certainly a point to slap such a silly notion right out of your head.  Everything you will do in your life amounts to what is to come next, (which most certainly WILL NOT be boot stomping on a bar to 80’s hair bands as a career), nothing is harder than realizing the work you could have put in to become better is lost and an opportunity is soiled by your lack of self preservation. Way to go callow juvenile! In all fairness if you really loved your adolescent self I would take swift judgement on your standing as an adult human being since we would all teach that kid a lesson or twelve. The in-between teen somehow got you to today though, but of course with I am not doubting a lot of help in various ways from that special few that could communicate with the hormonal beast you once were. Hopefully it wasn’t a leather clad bar tender teaching you to dance in synchronization that also harbored the mistaken impression that water should not be served at bars. Alas your primordial sapling of a self has been and always will be uniquely you and even though we wish we could pass the wisdom from the present to the past maybe that “baby was the right kind of wrong,” where there may have been some regrets along the way, and  “it might be a mistake, a mistake I’m making”; as the song says a mistake I am making, ultimately your past is you. So c’set la vie young you, me, I, we, thank you for the work you did put in even though I categorize you a slacker with potential. -SM

 

Much appreciation to “Coyote Ugly” by Jerry Bruckheimer Films & Touchstone Pictures for the valued entertainment that is hard to resist, “Can’t Fight the Moonlight.”