Maybe 2 Missed Dances

I never did attend my HS Prom.

27 years that has sat on my mind, even though I don't know why.  Nearly 3 decades have passed, and you'd figure I'd be over it, ya know?

I am sitting at my kitchen table, and my oldest walks in from school, a month in, says his hello, then disappears in his room.  He has a program called "Roblox" (pretty much Legos in the virtual world) and says he is learning code so he can build his own games/world.  He also says that if enough people play these games, he could actually make real money at it.

I can't fault the kid for his ambition.

But then again, I look outside my house (for now), and see kids playing.  Biking.  Enjoying what is now the endgame of warm weather, as the leaves will soon begin to change, the days already are getting shorter, and the precursor of that evil season, winter (better know as fall) will soon be upon us.

Part of me knows that the boy is just doing his thing, and perhaps he is at peace not dealing with the human race.

Then again, I keep thinking about what I missed in my life.  The "big events" that form what you may be as an adult.  Yeah, he still has time.  But before I blink, he'll be getting a summer job (Daddy's orders) and that freedom that he had...he has...will be gone.  He'll be subjected to someone else's will, determining when he can enjoy this small space of time we call life.  Vacation time, holidays, adding in the 104 days (maybe) he gets for weekends, all the other times will be spent making someone else richer.

Childhood is truly wasted on the young, isn't it?

But there he sits...maybe chasing his dreams.  Maybe this is his childhood the way he wants it built.

I don't know...I guess I don't get it..  This is the time to do mind-numbing dumb things...and mostly get away from it.

"He's just being a kid," they'll say.  The world's most perfect excuse.

I didn't want to enjoy that excuse...well, not in a way I should have.

Like that prom I missed.

Maybe I'm reading too much into things...or too much into him.

But you gotta come out to play sometime...while you still have time.