Men will be boys (especially when there’s open bar)
A good friend of mine recently got married in my hometown. It was good to see some of my old high school friends, but I realized that some of them haven’t grown up at all. So I started to wonder, is it that they haven’t grown-up or is are they playing the role they think they are supposed to play in the group like they did in high school.
One of the guys was cheering at the reception like he was at a football game or concert by whistling, clapping and calling out nicknames that we use for each other, but he was former football player who was always loud and sometimes obnoxius (and he wonders why no one invites him to come visit).
He was far from the only one. Quite a few others began acting like we were 16 again with the drinks (it was open bar, need I say more) and conversations about some of the women in attendance.
I began feelilng like I was the old man in the group and was embarrassed for my friend on his wedding day, but people seemed to totally ignore them. So they continued to get louder and more obnoxious (of course, none of these guys had wives or girlfriends with them or else we all know that would have been a different story). I was use to it, but it wasn’t appropriate for a wedding. I told one of my boys to show some respect because it was their (the bride & groom) day. He said,” Don’t get all self righteous on us now. Any other time, you’d be right with us. Relax. It’s a celebration!”
He was right. Any other time, but not today. Maybe I did need to relax, but I guess that has always been my role.
We all play certain roles in different situations and I guess when old friends get together, we all assume the roles we played in high school. But sometimes we have to be who we are, not what people expect us to be. I was hoping that some of them would act like who we are or what we have become: adults.
We’ll see what happens at the next wedding.
June 21st, 2007 at 10:16 pm
We’ve all heard the saying that some people can not get on with there live because they are still living in the past. The sad truth is for alot of people, the pinnacle was high school. The highlight of their lives at 18. Fast forward a decade or two and that is a sad reality to have to face. Who wants to lament on how things could have been…what they could have done. So what do they do…they live in the past. Try to cover some of that unspoken pain by being loud and rambunctious at a buddies wedding. Truth be told the ones you spoke to knew you were right…they just needed to hold on to the fantasy…a least for a little while longer.