Forever Young

Yesterday was a tonic, spent with friends old and new and kids thrown together from here and there over the last 15 plus years. The weather for our getaway was beautiful, and the spirit of gathering also beautiful.

My kids and Shameless' all had been looking forward to this day last week, and they wasted not a minute. Even better, they were able to introduce a couple other young friends into the mix.

At one point, they took their "project" out of doors, and we adults drifted to the picture window like it was a magnetic field. There we all stood, transfixed, gazing out at the wonder beyond the glass: a full-throttle impromptu game and on the faces of little people a joy and gusto that we as grownups would these days find hard to emulate. Late into the evening we played, until the grownups couldn't take anymore.

Leaving that behind and looking ahead to spring break was kind of sad, but those are the moments, the days, that make being a kid so great.

Stunning to us ever is the fact that, despite our wishes to the contrary, our children are growing up. They have a wicked sense of humor, a purehearted snarky streak, vision, fearlessness, and ideas all their own. Another ten years from now, I so hope that life hasn't tamed those things, but I am afraid it will.

This one is for all the "kids" we had fun with this weekend -- including those very tall ones over the age of 40 who, I noticed, quite willingly let out their inner kids during what looked like a pretty heated game of Wii tennis. May we all be forever young.

You might enjoy listening like I did later today to Forever Young by Bob Dylan. Watch it performed here by Tim O'Brien with Danny Barnes (banjo), Casey Driessen(fiddle), and Dennis Crouch (bass) at Rockygrass 2006.

PS--That Tim. He's such a Chameleon. Click on the link to see what he's been up to lately.