Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise

It's 7:45 A.M. on a Sunday. I'm running on about four hours of sleep. My head is slightly unfocused and my mouth a bit dry. I'm definitely hungry but too tired to eat (clearly not too tired to write). None of this would seem unusual if I were in my early to mid-twenties recovering from a night of good, healthy debauchery. Instead, I'm 29 dangling my toe off the precipice to 30, am happily married with an adorable son, and will be doing the responsible thing of preparing to go to church in a couple of hours. So where did I go wrong?

I wouldn't say I went "wrong" really. Perhaps I just realize why girls have slumber parties when they are conquering adolescence instead of adulthood. Last night I held an actual slumber party for four sets of sisters who all grew up together. An impromptu night out about four months ago sparked the idea. A few of us were having margaritas with our moms (yeah, I know), and it occurred to me how awesome having all nine of us back together for one night would be! We all share a childhood that would be riotous to recollect, and it would be doubly entertaining to gush about where we are now.

This all culminated into a night of laughter, memories, movies, friendship bracelets (no, you read that correctly), food, and drinks! Without a care in the world, I shoveled pizza, chicken nuggets, cookies, and rum and Cokes into my system. (Something which my reflux is maniacally punishing me for this morning.) In good spirits, no pun intended, I eagerly went to work on friendship bracelets! I had a list of all the people who would receive the fruits of my labor. It was going to be sweet. After hours of measuring, cutting, and undoing; all I have to show for my efforts are two bracelets with about an inch completed. (Apparently hand/eye coordination diminishes with age.) I think I managed to pay attention to two of the four movies we watched before I had to throw in the towel and come to bed. Seeing that is was 3:15 in the morning, I impressed even myself at my stamina. (However, the grown-up inside was kicking me because I wasn't in bed sooner since my son started waking up at 7 for breakfast.)

Do I feel a little old? Yes, but mostly because my mommy isn't currently in my kitchen making pancakes for when all of us wake up and are ready to have breakfast (one of my favorite memories). We'll all probably nibble off of the pizza and chicken nugget remains before everyone goes back to her adult life. Would I change anything about last night? NO! Maybe we are grown-up with responsibilities that never would have crossed our minds at 13. Maybe we gush about our pets and jobs instead of how we're going to marry 'NSync (go ahead and laugh-you know you want to). Maybe we even decided that tie-dying t-shirts would have been a better craft than friendship bracelets (okay, I decided that). But we also still manage to lift each other up and make each other laugh. I firmly believe that in life I need that:).

So even though my body will probably enjoy punishing me for the rest of the day for the junk food abuse it suffered last night, I have collected new memories for the next time we all decide to slumber party-hardy. (Then again, if we wait another 10-12 years, it will probably be a better idea to have a couple of drinks, go home and head directly to bed. Just ask our moms 'cause that's what they did last night.)