The Ol' College Try Is Harder Than It Looks

Back in the day, myself and my college roommates would be up until Dawn. Not because we had to, but because we just were. Studying, talking, watching movies, whatever caught our fancy at the moment, because staying up until 5am was a skill that we had polished and nutured until it was perfect. Sleep before 2am was for wusses.

This weekend, two of my college roommates are in town. Staying at my house to relive memories and go sweat our asses off at a Cubs game (it's almost 100 degrees here today, but that's another post). We indulge in calories that our post-college bodies just cannot burn efficiently these days, but we don't care. And we try, oh how we try, to stay awake.

Last night, we parked ourselves around the kitchen table and caught up, reminisced about the good ol' days, and sat in chairs that demanded we be upright and only partially comfortable until well past midnight. But we began to wain. In a heroic effort to stay awake, a pot of coffee was brewed, and coffee was chugged. But the eyelids fluttered heavier and heavier, and soon we had no choice but to move to the couch to "watch" a movie. The 40-Year-Old Virgin was no match for age. It was past midnight, our bodies demanded sleep. Soon, the three of us were zonked out. Officially, I think we made it until 2am, but in reality, we were half asleep by midnight.

The days of effortless partying and frivolous burning of the night hours are long gone. But we still try to keep up like we used to, even if it's just for a weekend. After all, isn't that what life is all about? Trying to stay young? Though, we would now prefer to keep up with napping and early-to-bed toddlers than the girls we were back in the day at good ol' University of Illinois. Oh, our alma mater. We're still cheering you on, even if it's from much shorter days with a more sane amount of sleep. I-L-L! I-N-I! Goooooooo Illini!