Zona

When the clock strikes midnight

New young love is electric. Curiosity and a gleam in the eyes. Deep kisses and long embraces with no words needed. Longing separations that seem long but are really short. And you just know that it will be like that forever so you make a big leap.

But in your inexperience of things worldly you fail to realize that's exactly what it is. A leap. Soon the embrace turns into a clinging of sorts. Now there is work to be done and bills to pay. Meals to cook and dishes to clean. Where once you watched TV in each other's arms and laughed at the quirky life characters on the screen those characters now seem so damned stupid and you're so tired.

Love changes because now there are responsibilities of spending your lives together. You chose to do this and your parents said it was hard but you didn't believe them because surely they didn't experience what you are experiencing. But they did. And they got through it and that's why they're still together.

Look at any couple who has been together for a long period of time and you will see a couple who has been where you are. People say the key is communication and I say that it's definitely a part but the bigger key is deciding that you are going to work at this.

The kids pop into the picture and they are precious and you instantly know that you would give your life for them without question. Well I'm here to tell you that it is a greater sacrifice to LIVE your life for them.

One thing is certain about becoming adult to the majority of us. You are going to have to get a job and work and pay bills. You want to make it better for your kids than it was for you. I'm certain we all said that no matter how we were raised.

It's hard?

You bet it is.

It only gets easy when you commit to making it all work. Then you find direction and you move ahead instead of staring at the ground and wondering how a beautiful carriage became a rotting pumpkin and blaming the past for being the past.