What Goes Up Comes Down

Quote of the day: “Nothing can bring you happiness but yourself.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

As with anything in life, what goes up must come down, including us. Physics is a bitch. The emotional high of the weekend leaves me feeling a bit off today at work. I believe it’s the consequence of having too much fun, if there is one. Unfortunately, we all touch down to earth at some point. I miss them terribly already.

Could it be possible to love hanging out with your girlfriends too much?

A Columbia Girls’ gathering, whether it’s big or small, never falls short of its ultimate goal: endless laugher and chatter. Today’s silent humming of HVAC units and keyboard strokes magnify the boredom of office work. Can we get a little connection, please? You know; human to human contact? Enough already with the e-mail, Internet and computer vibes. Can’t a girl get a little life out of the day?

I guess this is life too…endless time spent in cyberspace, void of human interaction and our senses. This is the other end of the physics equation; the denominator; the down. Where’s the joy in this?

Oh yeah, I remember, there is none. The joy is in me. Separate from the tasks at-hand, free from condition, the joy resides within. People have been saying this adage for years, including Emerson in the quote of the day, “Nothing can bring you happiness but yourself.”

Except for girlfriends, Sir Emerson. Obviously he never spent time with The Columbia Girls, or had his own great group of guy friends. They can surely bring happiness. But to take it a step deeper, the whole joy-in-hanging-out-with-your-girlfriend thing, one of the reasons why it is so fun is because my best Self comes to life when hanging out with them. They are incredible mirrors. They help me to see more clearly who I am and who I hope to be. It is within their presence that the worlds of my past, present and future collide because the good ole stories of yesterday continue to be told; the realities of the present are shared and processed out-loud, with experts; and the hopes and dreams of the future are nurtured.

There’s no pretending with them. No need to walk on eggshells. If there’s an elephant in the room, I’m usually good for inviting her to dinner. We get the news out in the open, free from shame, worry or guilt.

We don’t even DO anything when we’re together except eat, drink and be merry. Sure, that’s a lot of fun, but we can do that with almost any group of friends or family. What makes spending time with The Columbia Girls so special is that the foundation of our union was built upon a time in our lives where the freedom of youth met the expansion of a higher mind.

College life: a perfect blend of past and future for the ultimate present.

We may no longer look just like the girls we once were (thank God—the beer drinking added a puffy element to most of us), or think just like them (double thank God--we made some really stupid choices), but we are surely still them…with children, partners and jobs in tow.