Tonight, We Are Young

I’ve been feeling a little crowded lately, and my claustrophobia-driven instincts scream ‘run!’ pretty much most of the time. Of course, I don’t quite have the luxury of acting on them, although, in my head, I’m already far, far away.

I go about my day, running on autopilot, tending to each task monotonously, religiously, but every once in a while, in my mind, I shrug responsibility off my shoulders, like the leaden cloak it has suddenly become, and seek refuge in a time when I have felt completely unfettered...

Tonight, I am young. I am without the responsibilities that every new role, every new relationship, inevitably forges. I lounge easily with friends in a speeding car in the black of night, enjoying the wind in my hair, feeling freer than I ever will, again. There is laughter, there is careless banter, there is friendship. We drive through an unending, unlit, desolate road...white headlights racing before us, the radio spinning out ‘The Living Daylights’ at insane decibels. We are high on youth...unafraid of tomorrow, unmindful of consequences, and blissfully content in the moment.

The moment passes; I am back to now, making mental notes as I stir the tea on the stove. I need to pick up eggs for breakfast tomorrow, write out Maths practice sheets for the kid, get the laundry done, complete an article the client had demanded yesterday, and oh, wait, no sugar to be added to this tea, for the diabetic elders. My cellphone rings then, and I smile when I see the familiar name. I pick up the phone, knowing he will be the first to speak, as always...

I hear the familiar voice of an old friend, and draw strength from the friendship, and from the million remembrances of youthful, unencumbered days that his phone call evokes. And just like that, my heart feels lighter, and responsibilities don't seem that daunting anymore. I become, once more, the person I used to be...the girl in that car, who had not a care in the world, and the world at her feet, talking animatedly to the boy steering the car that night, so many eons ago.

Tonight, we are 19, again. And life is still brimming, with possibilities.