The gift of youth

Yesterday we spent the day in Burlington, Vt. The big city compared to where we had been. A gentle introduction back to the hustle and bustle of life. I love the feel of Burlington. It is essentially a university town with The University of vermont being its major focus. Its major energy source. The pulse of the city.
And because it is a university town, it has a feeling of youth and expectation. A feeling of hope and prosperity about it because so many of the faces you see are those who are striving to make something of themselves. Living with hope and belief in tomorrow. Believing they will and can change the world. Idealists unjaded and unfazed by the cynicism that often comes with age.
So as a result I felt filled with hope. Yet at the same time, filled with nostalgia about the youth I have left behind. The youth that still lingers within me. In that space that never ages. The space that appreciates that within us all resides the child we were born to be. The child that keeps the laughter and joy in our lives.
As I watched the students returning to University dragging their large bags behind them, I thought back to my university days and got such a shock to realise that was me more than thirty years ago. How could that be I thought? Not thirty years. More than thirty years ago. Thirty years ago I had already graduated from University. Flooring me at first and making me feel very old.
How could so many years have gone by without me realising it?  Forcing me to think about whether I have become the person I dreamed I would be when I entered the gates of my University. Had I fulfilled the dreams of the young lady I was when I started university with stars in my eyes and sometimes dreams of grandeur of what my future would bring? Am I the woman I believed I would be? And you know what I am more than I thought I would be as I never really thought I would finish University. I never really thought about what tomorrow would bring as each day I wondered if I would have the finances to get through school. If I would be able to return.
But now as I look back as a woman in her fifties, a mother of two beautiful children, a wife of a man I never dreamed would be in my life, a business woman and a writer, in some ways I wish I would have listened to my heart more. Listened to that little voice inside me that told me to go that way instead of this way. But what I realise is all those detours and turns, all those mishaps and "mistakes" were and are actually helping me to live the rich tapestry that is life. Helping me to learn more lessons than I imagined would come my way when I was the young woman trying to find her way.
As I sat with my family in my favourite restaurant in Burlington, "Stone Soup", eating farm fresh, live foods and listening to the hopes and dreams of the young people sitting next to us, I realised something so profound. We are always young when we remain young at heart. When we do not lose hope. When we believe in ourselves and understand it is never too late to change the direction of our lives. When we don't take ourselves too seriously and can laugh at ourselves, we tap into the eternal fountain of youth. For it is this fountain that keeps us going. That sustains us. Fulfills us.
And the youth I am talking about is not the physical youth that so many people try to maintain with face lifts, botox and whatever else they try to do to keep their physical bodies young. No, it is the spiritual and soulful youth that comes from deep down inside that keeps us feeling purposeful and fulfilled. It is the light that gives us life - the promise of all that is, was and ever will be - the promise of us. No amount of physical enhancement can fuel us if we don't tap into the youth, the child that always remains with us. The child that still dreams. The child that still believes. The child that laughs at her mistakes. At his falls. At herself, himself.
I am grateful for seeing myself again through the eyes of the expectant and young people making their way back to university life yesterday in the vibrant town of Burlington, Vt against the picturesque backdrop of Lake Champlain on one side and the mountains on the other. With the hanging baskets full of colourful flowers. With the perfectly manicured lawns. All framing the beauty that is the youth that never leaves.
So grateful for being reminded that youth is not fleeting. Time goes by quickly - yes it does. Particularly when I am reminded of time as I looked at my 15 year old son who will soon be a university student; but youth always remains. When I remember as long as I love, live and laugh, I will always be young at heart. Always know tomorrow is promised to no one so it is up to me to live the life I want regardless of what others may think or believe.
Here's to eternal youth - the youth that allows me to take chances, to stumble and fall and still get back up again, dust myself off and start all over again. And each time I do with the wisdom of age because time has taught me that each chance is a lesson whether the chance works the way I thought it would or not. What a gift is the gift of youth, the youth that is freely available to us all because it resides within us always. Waiting for us to be willing to be vulnerable and tap into its eternal well.
With gratitude to the gift of youth - the gift that keeps on giving when we stop searching for life and just start living life.... Namaste