I think those are all the defining moments of you life. I completely agree that the time during the last part of your teens (call it 16-19) is the most visceral part of your life. Some of my most vivid memories are from these ages. I feel sorry for those who spent the time doing what their parents said they should so as opposed to what they needed to do. The whole of all of those moments and choices have created what I am today and I don’t regret any bit of it. Hells yeah I’ve made mistakes, big ones, huge ones even; but I wouldn’t trade any of those moments in for anything. Every missed class, every sour relationship, every bacon cheeseburger burrito and every sev’s run. I would have preferred not to have parted with Stony Brook, but it needed to be done and I am who I am today because of it. My Mom didn’t give me shit. I have had a job since I had a working card. I wish I didn’t have to work and I could have filled that time with studying for classes and hanging out like normal kids my age, but I learned an important thing. She taught me independence and that had been a valuable skill, but inadvertently it is the same independence that bit her in the ass when I didn’t need her anymore.

If my kids need to do drugs, get drunk and have sex to find themselves, so be it. I’ll bitch and I’ll moan; ride them like a good parent should but disobedience and bad credit is a part of every child’s coming of age. Matter of fact, when my kid looses their virginity, I’ll throw them a party. Welcome to adulthood, now get a job a move the fuck out of my house.