Reconnecting

This is the first time in my life that I have so many friends who are younger than me in age.  Ever since I was a girl, friends have either been around my age or older.  The year I turned 25, I hung out quite frequently with some friends who were up to 15 years my senior.  I was constantly absorbing life lessons from my friends.

Now, I'm living with housemates who finished high school the year I got my master's degree.  Oh my!

Back in California--or elsewhere in the world outside of New Haven--friends are having babies and buying homes, adjusting to married life and getting job promotions.  Because I'm a student, it sometimes feels like time stands still, and age doesn't matter.  What matters more than life experience in the academic context is often the ability to have and articulate ideas, to reason and to feel--and not necessarily to do.  The rubber doesn't hit the road the same way in school, and it is certainly a privilege to be suspended in a space of exploration and reflection--without immediate real-world consequences.

I've learned so much from my young friends at YDS.  They are much brighter and more confident than I was at their age.  They seem to be less handicapped by certain things in American culture that seemed inescapable when I was growing up in the '80s and '90s.  Their futures are bright, and they have the privilege at being in Divinity School at an Ivy League before they've even hit a Quarter Century.  This makes it exciting to be a student again--my world has expanded by being in close contact with younger souls.

It's nice, though, to come home to old friends, many of whom also happen to be older.  These past few weeks have been a nice counterbalance to my past year.  There is something so comforting about conversing with friends with whom one has history.  Whenever I come back to LA, I know there are friends welcoming me with open arms.  It isn't hard to reconnect and be refreshed by their presence.  And for that, I am grateful.

An old Girl Scouts song sums it up perfectly!