Young heart, wise head... can the two play nice?

For the first time in a long time I am coming off of a 3AM night out. I've done lots of 1 and 2AM nights futzin around on the computer.....  but I haven't had a late LATE night out in a long time. Granted, it was for a birthday party but I've been thinking about the days of old when 2 and 3AM meant time to hit the diner for some breakfast after a night of partying. I was reminded of this because one of the 'young' ladies who was at the party asked that very question at 3:15 when we were dispersing for the ride home - "Aren't we going to the diner for breakfast? ha ha"  Ha ha? All I could think of was how good my pillow was going to feel.

And.........  it was a good decision to come home.  After sleeping in (as much as my body allows me to sleep in these days) I awoke to coffee (because the wise head in me said 'stay up 5 minutes longer and set your coffee up for the morning - you are going to need it') and a VERY tired looking face. And a tired body. 

OH - and did I mention that the coffee isn't cutting it?  Oh no - I am a tired girl this morning. 

I knew this was going to be the case though. That is the difference between the young and experienced. Back in the day I would go hard and never give the next day a thought.  I would wake tired but ready to tackle the day. Now I go into an evening anticipating the next few day's events because I know that the young heart in me directly affects the way I do things the next few days. Although I have a free day today, I have a long work day tomorrow and I went into last night thinking about how late I would sleep in, how tired I'd be - what my plans were for tonight and if I would still be feeling it when I get ready for work tomorrow. I chose to keep the drinks at a minimum and the water at a maximum.

As I read this though I sound like an old fart. Really I'm not. Actually I have the heart and spirit most days of a gal in her late 20s, early 30s. I feel young in my heart. In fact, I like to be the life of the party. I have had many memorable evenings which my friends love to bring up when we're together. This is probably because while my friends were partying in their 20s, I was raising my family. I had a rebellious couple of years recently that would make any 20-something gal proud. The problem is - I'm not that 20 something gal and the consequences are not worth it.

So how do you live with a young spirited heart when your wise head says PROCEED WITH CAUTION?!? Just like I'm doing. I look for opportunities to have fun and seize them. But I also anticipate what those opportunities will cost me and act appropriately instead of with wreckless abandon.

I can still party with the best of them.............  but BOY I love my pillow when it's over!!!