Do you remember what it was like to be a teenager?

I do. And it kind of suck, to be honest.

In the sense that I wish I enjoyed the perks of being an adolescent more while I was in that point of my life.

I think we all took it for granted.

I looked back on those days where all I had to worry about was getting my schoolwork done and passing my classes.

No bills, no full-time job yet, no real responsibilities.

That was the good part, the part I'd like back.

The bad part, at least at the time, was just the whole awkward phase that encompasses most teenagers.

You're still going through a lot of physical and emotional

changes. It can be tough because although you're all going through these things together,

you don't know how to deal with it fully, and you don't know how to talk about it.

And God forbid you ask an adult about these kinds of things. That's how I was.

I figured someone older than me would never understand what I was going through.

All the confusion I felt about this, that, and the other,

when I'm sure a person much wiser than me would have had the perfect advice.

But hindsight is 2020. wiser than me would have had the perfect advice.

But hindsight is 2020. Even though I shun the opinions of my elders, like any good teenager does,

I was blessed with an incredible group of friends during my high school years,

most of which I still associate with to this day.

I consider myself lucky to have friendships that

expand over decades of time. I'm grateful not only because I love these people, but because I know

not everybody can say this. I remember back to those handful of kids in high school who seemingly had no one, but long to be someone's friend.

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