High School Teen Age Dreams

So, it’s 1992 and I was thinking about you
as I lined the last of my lid –
put my hoop earrings on,
shouldered the Jansport –
I’m gone —
way before Paris, my tiny white dog’s name was Kid.

My hair is all crunchy, wet, long and curly …
pulled back and snapped in a clip.
My Nautica’s red and a little too long – but it’s all good
these visuals … they work for my song …

I sip a Snapple and don’t eat apples but a bag of chips will do, and here comes that bagel, nice and warm to our table – it’s me and my owls – we’re a crew.

It’s a Galaxy of fries on the Ave. of 8th – and nothin’ cost more than 5 dollars. Hoots and Hollas, no one reads the thermometer – it’s hot in this bitch — we relate.

17 and a year is forever – still together and always will be – not a thought on our minds as we converse and we dine over this universal high school teenage dream.

Wondering what will come next, but not really carin’ – we’re so rich with our time it’s disgustin’. We’re so new to this world, we’re so young to this place – the way we spend time … it’s a total disgrace … throwin’ hours in the garbage. puttin’ days straight to sleep – weeks disappear in a flash-

another pocket of cash and a month tossed to laughs and then there’s all the up-coming seasons to think …

we would regulate, and speculate … who would we marry and when? would we have boys or girls? let’s talk about this again … one two or three? who would go first … you, her or me?

Not that long ago, just like yesterday, hours ago it seems …
these hypothetical futures, these sketched out adulthoods, these universal high school teenage dreams …

Now it’s 16 years later and I saw you today
and those babies are oh so real –
it’s like they were there with us –
listenin’ in on us
takin’ notes as we discussed
they instinctively – just knew the deal.

they were already on their way, their journey had begun … long before we even graduated – and in all these things I’ve stated, no matter how calculated – I couldn’t be more elated to have realized today …
all we talked about, all we walked about, all we fought about, all we thought about – it’s so much more then it seemed, when you understand that you’ve made it to stand in the reality of that universal high school teenage dream.

Photo Credit: teaho via Compfight cc

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Elizabeth Regen lives in Los Angeles but is a 3rd generation Manhattanite, hailing from NY, NY. Elizabeth is a mom of two girls, ages 13 and 4. She's been married for over 10 yrs. to her hard working husband. She is an actor and a writer and believes in finding creative ways to empower women and young people.

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