R and J in the USA

We heard Vivian and Ryan’s enthusiasm just outside our van as we were going in and out of consciousness, napping with the doors wide open to the shores of Torch Lake on Julie’s birthday. 

“Wow, that van is so cool,” they were exclaiming.

Later in the day, after they’d had their time at the beach and were walking back to their car, they approached us cautiously, but hopeful that we would be open to chatting.

”Hi there! Do you mind if we come say hi?”

”Sure thing!” We said from our portable living room.

”We love your van!”

”Thanks! We do too!”

What followed was probably 30 minutes of sheer enthusiasm, and we loved it. By most accounts, Julie is a pretty enthusiastic person, but there is just a different kind of enthusiasm that comes out of people in their late teens and early 20’s. Vivian was an early college student. Ryan was headed toward his high school graduation. 

Vivian was a former theater student and pumped to hear about Julie’s musical. Julie and Vivian were both excited to find this commonality. Ryan was headed to Argentina soon for a study abroad, excited to expand his world. He had grown up at the farm and farm store just a mile down the road. He was definitely living in one of the world’s beautiful spots, but was ready to get out and see more.

Ryan left us with a hand-written coupon for a free tea at the farm cafe down the road where he worked and grew up. By the time they left we found ourselves feeling like we had adopted a new niece and nephew.

We both found ourselves in a reflective space, thinking about what lay ahead for them as they navigate the land mine and growing pains of their early 20’s. Based on what we had seen so far, we felt fairly confident they would face whatever lay ahead with kindness, curiosity, and the ability to learn and grow. That is not always obvious, but it was here They were that kind of folks. We also saw in them a familiar innocence that we remembered, an innocence that came from intellectually understanding certain things about what lay ahead in navigating life that, until you go through it all, can’t yet be quite real.

We’re sure they’ve already faced hardships in life, but whatever they had so far faced had not kicked the life out of them, and they were still holding a genuine excitement  and gung ho approach to life and the opportunity to go live it. We may sound hardened and battle-weary, but we mean it in the most complimentary and aspirational of ways. We feel pretty good about the joy and enthusiasm we’ve been able to maintain over life’s decades as well. But, as far as we can tell, no one gets into their 40s and 50s without feeling a little wear and tear from the miles on the road. We had confidence these two had the breaks and suspension to handle the terrain.

As we do almost anytime we see young folks in their teens or early 20’s, we found ourselves imagining what their faces would look like with an extra 20 years on them. Not as an act of cynicism, but as a curiosity looking from the vantage point of our 40s and 50s having walked our own winding road through our teens, 20s, and 30s.

Are these kinds of thoughts strange? Or, is this just part of the winding road that is being in your 40s and 50s? Have humans always done this when they get high enough up life’s mountain? Have they always taken a moment to look back over the landscape and marvel at the other hikers who look so small in the distance of their location closer to the beginning of their climb? 

We’re not sure. But we do know that whatever they do in life, we’re rooting for Vivian and Ryan. And we’re pretty sure that whatever it is and however they get there, they’re gonna do just fine.