Waxing Nostalgic

Do you ever wish you could go back and do it all over again? It really doesn't matter when or what. Is there a point in your life that you would like to go back to, having the knowledge that you have today, and do something different?

I asked myself this question today as I drove by my high school. I graduated back in '98 and I haven't looked back. I hated high school. I was nobody in high school. I had no identity. I was an average student who didn't play sports and had very few friends. I suppose more people thought of me than I know, but for the most part, I was unpopular among the "in-crowd."

I take some of that back. I didn't hate high school. I just loved college so much more that looking back high school seemed miserable. But as I drove by Patrick Henry High and saw the construction of the new super high school building I was reminded of days gone by. Simpler times when my 11th grade decades project seemed like it would end me. I found myself being flooded by memories, good and bad.

So what would I do differently? For starters I'd have tried a lot harder in my classes. At some point in high school I realized that I could pass with C's without trying. Maybe if I'd have put forth some kind of effort I'd have gotten A's.

Next, I would definitely have a lot more confidence in a lot of areas of my life. College showed me who I am as a person. I found my identity. I didn't peak in high school like a lot of people tend to do. No, I never became an athlete or a super-genius. But I became comfortable with who I am. I'd like to be the person I am now, but back as a freshman in high school. That would invariably lead to differences in the way I handle myself and the people around me.

Third, would I ask out that girl? You know the one I'm talking about. The one that gets placed up on the pedestal. The one that movies immortalize as the girl that the geeky guy had a crush on for 4 years but never developed the nerve to do anything about it. I definitely had one of those. I haven't seen her since graduation, but every now and then I wonder where her life has led her today. Maybe I'll come back to her sometime. I think she may deserve her own entry.

I never answered my last question. Would I ask her out? Probably not. Look at the title of my blog. "The Single Guy." I mean, here I am 7 years after high school and still single. This means that even the person I am now would not have the guts to ask out the crush girl from the 9th through 12th grades.

The point of all of this is to say that yes, I would do things differently. For the most part. But honestly who wants to go through all of that again? Growing up was hard enough the first time. Who wants to learn those lessons all over again. I know I certainly don't want to take driver's ed. again. However, I could avoid that accident I had junior year. Yeah, stuff like that would be nice.