Now and Then

Now:

and Then:

A night of relaxing at home turned into a night of reminiscing and nostalgia I hadn't experienced in awhile.

It's Friday night and I had to work late. Looking forward to my night at home, I decided to order appetizers and watch a movie. My justification is that I'm going to start working out hard again and eating crazy healthy, so....one more night of whatever I wanted seemed appropriate!

I ordered my boneless wings and curled up in bed to watch Now and Then. Since I was it on OnDemand, I've had this weird desire to watch it. So, I took the trip back to 1995 and enjoyed every minute of it. Although, I have to admit I can't believe I watched that movie at such a young, impressionable age! A bit mature at moments, and scary. Pretty pathetic when I've got to turn the light on as I watch it in my apartment! All that cemetery and seance stuff.

The 1 1/2 hours of girl bonding time, summers in 5 pastel colors per outfit, seances (weird...i know) and tree houses brought back a lot of childhood memories. I grew up in a great neighborhood with lots of girls my age and we made the best of our large group. OK, at times there was drama, but I will always have a place in my heart for those girls. There was about 10 of us and we all took shifts being best-friends with one another.

One summer we decided to have a club and host it in my dear friend Madison's backyard, where a red, glorious storage like building stood. It was the perfect meeting place. We made all sorts of rules and immediately formed the club. We painted the shed, placed old carpet in it, posted pictures inside and came up with all the secret passwords and even signs. In order to be part of the club, you had to own some sort of ying yang item. I think I had a ring, or necklace, or something. Regardless, it was the powerful Chinese symbol required to gain entrance.

The group of us voted on a President and all the other leadership positions. There were a lot of memories in that place and it makes me smile knowing adulthood hasn't completely washed them away.

At one point, I remember us all having a sleepover and doing our usual seance routine with the light as a feather trick as the following act. Thinking about it now, we were so silly! We thought we were on top of the world (and the underworld too I guess!) The thing is, we were there for each other and we were happy girls.

And just like the girls in Now and Then, we've all gone our separate ways. I guess that's what growing up and moving away does to relationships. But for now, I can still close my eyes and see that red clubhouse and those girls in our denim shorts and smiles gloating over our newest clubhouse rules and regulation and it's a simplicity I don't find in my life anymore. 

I also realized as I was binging on junk food during the movie, I don't need to go all veggies and chicken only. I need to allow myself things every now and then.