a tale of two [manhattans]

"it was the best of times, it was the worst of times. it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness..."

once again, memorial day weekend was spent with my college friends. with half of them already there, it was decided we'd converge on new york this year...the other manhattan, and it was that fact, that made this trip slightly different. last year, we had all met in, somewhat, neutral territory, with only one of us knowing the true ins and outs of the city. in new york, however, we were entering the world of our friends, complete with jobs, deadlines, classes, and girlfriends. it wasn't just a vacation, it was a glimpse into their lives. the people they'd met, the places they've enjoyed, the sights they've seen, the experiences they've had. time and distance was allowing me to see my friends from a different angle, a view that would come in and out of focus. at times, sitting back, chatting and joking like it was a late night in studio again, i would swear time had somehow passed us by and we were the same guys we were in college. however, every once in a while, i'd look around the room, at the same faces i had seen hundreds of times before, and i'd noticed, between the juvenile behavior and scotch filled satire, we had changed. we were no longer green. we had all seen our share of adversity, and we've all had to deal with it, and in that process, had grown. we had matured.four years have now past since we graduated. four years since we left manhattan, four years since we had everything before us, four years since we had nothing before us.

we've all been through a lot, we're all a little bit older, we're all a little bit wiser.

...we might just be becoming grown-ups.