Peter Pan: “Forget them, Wendy. Forget them all. Come with me where you'll never, never have to worry about grown up things again.”
Wendy: “Never is an awfully long time.”
Anyone who has lived in Vail for even one ski season will agree that this place is Neverland. Time and age seem to not exist here in this happy valley in the middle of the Rockies. People are youthful despite the fact that many suddenly wake up one day and realize five or even ten years have gone by since they moved here for one ski season. One friend of mine attributes the youthful appearance of valley residents to both the high altitude and the fact that folks around here enjoy a drink or two; “they pickle themselves with alcohol,” he says. Whatever it is youth does seem to flow like a fountain here and it’s easy to feel like we’re living in a bubble where we’re impervious to the stresses of the real world.
It shouldn’t have come as a surprise, a look back at my life and the lives of my friends in the past couple years hints that real world adult stuff has been seeping through the protective shield of our bubble for awhile now; there was a devastating house fire, the death of a sibling, and some gut-wrenching break-ups. I had no idea the bubble was so weak (it must be the altitude).
The realization that we’re all growing up has stuck with, or rather haunted, me all week. And, to be honest, it’s made me feel a bit sorry for myself. Everyone is moving on. People are getting married, moving away, moving up in careers, and more and more just doing their own thing. And here I am, stuck. Back where I was a year ago, penniless and heartbroken.
My job at Starbucks has agitated this feeling. I’m back working at the same place I worked when I moved here five years ago. And, regardless of the fact that the events that have put me in this place at this time were out of my control, it seems like every part of my life has gone backwards at the moment and it’s depressing and humiliating.
I was walking home from work yesterday in the mid-July heat, sweaty, sticky and smelling of coffee, battling with all these thoughts and more when a strange quiet voice spoke up in the midst of them all. The voice encouraged me to compare my life now to my life last time I worked at that very same Starbucks (and I try not to make a habit of listening to all the voices in my head but this one seemed friendly so I obliged). And it occurred to me that despite of the events of the past couple months, I’m more content with my life and myself now than I was then. So, as it turns out, I too am growing up in Neverland.
Want to read about my life during that first summer five years ago? Check out Jump, Lions and Tigers and Bears, and Life With Boys.
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