Dizzy

AS MY sister and I watched our niece and her fifteen friends move from one table to another in the game room—from the billiard table to the foosball table to the air hockey table to the ping pong table, we got dizzy.

Melanie Lim

Wide Awake

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The door to the game room was continuously open and shut. People came in and out of rooms, went up and down flights of stairs all night until the wee hours of the morning. According to the maids, they were already awake preparing breakfast when the last ones finally retired from their epicurean marathon.

They sang. They danced. They ate. They drank. They yelled. They played music all night. The sound of footsteps and laughter reverberated through the night. As my sister and I sat in rapt attention viewing them from the surveillance cameras, I couldn’t help but wonder out loud.

How can they go on and on like this all night? They had barely four hours of sleep the night before. All this bingeing has to bring their energy levels down somehow. But oh no, they just went on and on like that battery commercial on TV when I was a child.

How do they do it? My sister looks at me and says, “They’re young.”

That seemed obvious. Perhaps, what is not so obvious is the thought that you’re young only once. Well, we know it in principle. But actually believing it in your heart is another thing. You’re young only once. You really have to savor those energy levels because believe it or not, they won’t come again.

I wouldn’t advise anyone to get wasted every day of their lives but once in a while, I guess it can be fun—something you can look back and laugh about when you’re old and gray. I’m not saying, throw your life away. Oh no. You don’t want to be dead before you’re 21. I’m saying, once in a while, let your hair down and have fun.

Looking at young people having the time of their lives brings back a flood of memories for me of my own youth. I remember my own energy levels when I was young. I could go on and on for days with only a few hours of sleep. These days, I dare not do anything as drastic as I know I will have to pay dearly for it.

Do I miss my youth? Not really. I had a great time. I’m still having a great time. I don’t want to go back. I don’t need to. There is nothing I want to change or bring back. But I do want to move forward and savor the rest of what is yet to come.

There is no substitute for youth. But when that part of you is gone, you need not despair. There is much to look forward to in the future. On top of my list is wisdom.

Because I no longer have the energy levels of the young, I am now compelled to do more introspecting rather than wakeboarding although my age hasn’t really stopped me from indulging in the latter. The young may find it difficult to believe but my life is not any less exciting simply because I am no longer 18 or 21.

The young are destined to have fun. The no-longer-young are destined to have wisdom.

I am no longer young but I’m still having fun. I am not yet wise but I guess I’ll get there somehow. The dizzy spells continue but I can’t wait for what is yet to come.

(sunstarcebucolumnist@yahoo.com, Twitter: http://twitter.com/melanietlim)