Saint Michaels After Hours

The enthusiasm of youth is infectious.

Let me qualify that by acknowledging my own youth: I'm 25.
There, i've acknowledged it.

I've always felt a bit of the old fuddy duddy when surrounded by the exuberance of my peers. 

I'm not lethargic so much as low energy.

I have never found myself truly invested in the party life.  While keg stands happen on my porch i'm content to wonder around the house with a water bottle, flitting from this conversation to the next; participating enough to qualify as a 'party goer' but never even dipping my toe into the deep blue see of 'the life of the party.'

Let those better suited to it take the living lime light; i'll wait until i'm cued to speak.

Some might call the condition that of having an 'old soul' but i would pile that up with all the other half-hearted dismissals of the yet unexplained that are brushed aside with some reference to the ephemeral and unexplainable...who needs a sould

Where was i?  Right!  a party

So, to find myself surrounded by the thrumming party evening of the college co-ed is like coming home. 

It's as if the same party I was merrily ambulating through at WVU has simply picked up and moved to Vermont.  Except they have a live dj and better booze.

I know these people.  I went to school and work with these people.  I love to observe and co-exist with these people.

I have loved being a part of this troupe because it has forced me to become slightly more invested.
I cannot disconnect from these people for they are all i have.

But these folks, these lovely lively players and makers and scholars and teachers all...they are INTO IT.

I can't thank them for it in the moment because that would sound silly and unnecessary but i do appreciate them.  What would i be doing right now if it weren't for them?  Sitting in my hotel room, feeling sorry for myself and my discontent at my own disconnect...

Well, here i am.

So, thank you, St. Michael's students.
Thank you for making me better appreciate my own youth and pulling me out of the wings as i participate in life happening around me.