Re: That Curfew Thing

Mine changed over time. From what I recall (it was many brain-cells ago), in jr. high it was 10pm. High school until my senior year was 11pm. Senior year was midnight on school nights, "reasonable" (whatever that meant) on non-school nights. Once I turned 18, I didn't have one. I was expected, however, to make sure they knew I was home whenever I got home. My mom is a very light sleeper (that is where I get it from) and would almost always say "you're home?" when I walked towards my room. If not, I would just go to their door and say "I'm home" and she would answer. During my college years (and the one year after when I still lived at home), the always telling them I was home fell by the wayside.

I didn't abuse my curfew in my high school days and very rarely came home drunk. I did my share of stuff, but by the standards of many of those I knew, I was a fairly good kid. I do remember coming home one Sunday night when I was a senior and my parents were still up watching TV. I laid on the floor "watching" with them and could barely see the screen. I told them years later about that night and they had no idea I was so wasted.

Re: Curfew

I can't remember exactly what my curfew times were. They must have been reasonable, since I don't recall it ever being an annoyance. I think it was 1:00 on weekends. I was so obnoxiously well-behaved in high school that I could have stayed out all night and still not found any trouble to get into. As I was reflecting on this question, I was remembering how we spent late night hours: sitting at Perkins drinking Cokes; sitting in someone's family room drinking Cokes; sitting around a piano singing; holding impromptu Bible studies for FUN; OK, maybe an occasional episode of toilet-papering someone's house. It sounds dull, but my friends were smart and creative and funny, so all of these activities were infused with laughing to tears.

I didn't drink until college, with a few exceptions: 1) wine with pizza or steak at home with parents; 2) trip to Germany; and 3) one shared bottle of champagne, sitting on the hood of a car, parked in the middle of a field on the prairie, under the enormous North Dakota sky filled with stars on a warm spring night. During #3, we kept saying, "This is fun! Why haven't we been doing this all these years".