Be Careful What You Wish For...

I’m pretty sure there was actually a time in my life when I was truly happy. And sadly, I didn’t realize it until it was too late. S. and I had the world by the balls when we were younger. Lately all we seem to want to do is go back to when we were in college.

We spent the end of high school and all four years of college working at a patio bar on the Jersey Shore. It was an amazing time. We worked four days a week and had an endless supply of cash. We also went as far as to have our boss put us on the same shifts, so we could have certain days off for going to the beach together.

I’ll never forget those Tuesday mornings. Rolling into work around 11am, hungover and tired...so not wanting to be there. And then we’d spend the rest of the day hustling tips and being silent partners.

We’d joke around. Have soda gun fights. We’d try to trick each other into not paying attention as we put hot sauce in their drink. The bar manager used to work that shift with us, and he’d always ask us to “watch the bar” while he was gone. We certainly did watch it. We'd watch it dwindle in Jack Daniels and Captain Morgan. We’d hang with Frank at the bar and he’d tell us how lucky we were to be young. And to have no responsibility. We always wrote him off as the drunk guy. He wasn’t just some drunk guy. He was a guy who lived his life. At least most of it, and he had already learned from his mistakes. We never listened though. I guess we all have to make them for ourselves before we can truly appreciate what we have.

S and I would spend our days at the beach. Smoking and laughing, even picking up the occasional cop. Then we’d go home, shower and nap. And spend endless nights at parties and bars. We didn’t have a care in the world.

I distinctly remember one of our conversations during our last summer there. It was 2001 and I had just graduated from college. S had convinced me not to get a “real job” until the fall. It was the best thing I ever did. But that summer, she had one more year of college left before law school. And we were talking about what we were going to do when we “grew up.” And S said, “I’m so sick of going to school. I have three more years after this. I just want a job where I can prove myself.”

And I responded, “Seriously, I’m sick of writing papers and doing projects. I really want to just work in TV and produce stuff. And show everybody I really can do it.”

And S said, “I know, I just want to be a lawyer and have trials and cases where I can show people what I can really do.”

Well, it’s been seven years. We both got exactly what we want. S is a lawyer and seems to have a trial starting “every Monday.” And I work for a television network. And I produce stuff. Neither one of us could get any more miserable.

Be careful what you wish for. You just might get it.