License to ill

Driving alone today, I had the windows down and was listening to one of my son's playlists, when the Beastie Boys came on. "No Sleep till Brooklyn"! When I hear that song, which must be played loud, I'm mentally transported back to my teens, to a time when my sister and I were into driving and blasting music. We were carefree.

Whenever we went to visit our cousins, who lived on the other side of the state, it was our tradition, on the last leg of the journey, to crank up "No Sleep till Brooklyn," and fire up. It was funny, and it was fun!
Someone once advised me that, as an adult, you should never forget what it's like to be a teenager -- it's good for your creativity. Stay up too late, she urged. Play your music too loud. Carpe diem!
Kindergartners are always getting credit for teaching us "everything we ever needed to know" in life, while the oft-maligned teens are blacklisted as annoying and troublesome.
But what about their good points?
They care about their friends, they have intense feelings, they're fashionable, and most of them don't think too far into the future. Also, they don't drone on about golf.
I like the age I'm at now, and probably the only teen attribute I have these days is that I'm easily irritated, but I remember my teen days pretty well, and think that there's a pretty good point to the inherent self-absorption. Some adults...grown-ups, if you will...get a little too wrapped up in what it is they think they're supposed to be. I don't think it makes anyone happy. There's a certain balance to be found, with responsibility on the other end of the teeter-totter.
So, remember that: crank it up, but get to work on time.
The key teen goal I re-aspire to -- and I hope it happens soon -- is to be able to sleep in until noon.
Or Brooklyn.