When We Were Young

I wrote this story because I wanted to remember what it feels like to be young and not fully understand what is coming. Ted and his friends start the night thinking about the usual things—being bored, finding beer, getting high, chasing girls, and trying to feel a little bigger than the town they live in. They are careless and funny, but they are also decent when it matters. The story takes place in 1968, so Vietnam is always there in the background. Rodney is leaving for war the next morning, and his parents are not there to take him to the airport. That fact changes the whole night. What begins as a dumb Saturday adventure turns into something kinder. His friends do the simple thing his family should have done: they stay with him, give him a ride, and make sure he does not leave alone. Julie is important to the story too. She is carrying her own trouble, and she is honest about who she is at a time when that is not easy. Rodney understands that kind of courage. Later, in his letters from Vietnam, it becomes clear that the night stayed with him. The people who showed up for him gave him something to hold onto when the war became frightening and painful. To me, the story is about how small moments can matter more than we know at the time. A night of bad choices becomes a night of friendship. A ride to the airport becomes a goodbye. A letter becomes something a person keeps for the rest of his life. The ending is about memory, regret, and the need to give something back, even if it comes many years too late.