that teenage feeling

nothing comforts me the same
as my brave friend who says,
"I don't care if forever never comes..."

In a recent conversation with Cpt. Cast-On, we came to the conclusion that the term "young adult" should not refer to the Miley-Cyrus-loving--tween generation. Instead, WE are the young adults, trudging through this vast wasteland between 25 and 35; we are stuck in the holding pad of the overly educated. When returning to our 10 year high school reunions, we are the unwed, non-employed, perpetual-students with nothing to show for ourselves, save the wear-and-tear of academia and drinking.

I am far enough removed from post-adolescence, from college days and the whirlwind of early twentysomethingness, to feel like my life should have started by now. and I suppose, in many ways, it has. I've gone through a major relationship and the ending of it. I am a homeowner. I've had a stint at a real job. I have seen death and birth in my family. Everyone is getting older. Yet somehow, I often wonder if I am simply here standing still as time passes me by. If I am holding out for something. And what that could be... a person, a career, or just a switch within myself that equates with progress.

This is not to say that I am unhappy with where I am right now at 28, the choices that I have made. But sometimes the perceived easiness of other paths is alluring... and if that is what you want, how do you get there? How do you find the missing pieces that suddenly thrust you onto a new and uncharted direction? I wonder if it's that teenage feeling I'm after... I'm not even sure if I would recognize it in the first place. Maybe that's where Miley Cyrus comes in.