Our Boston condo is the ideal place for a holiday gathering – despite, or perhaps because of, its small space (consider it cozy, not cramped) it feels intimate and warm. Back in my Boston days, I would fill it with people for parties – jamming upwards of forty friends and their hangers-on in the little one-bedroom expanse. They would fill the kitchen and living room, a few finding quieter respite in the bedroom, and some even spilling out onto the fire escape and front steps. It marvels me to think that I once did that – and it feels far away – another lifetime ago. I can think of two attendees who have died since then.
While I look back at those days with fondness, I can’t imagine doing something like that today, simply because I wouldn’t want to. The world has changed, and my life has evolved into something very different. In so many ways, those days were about scrambling to find out who I was, trying on different guises, meeting different people, and ransacking all the possibilities at hand. In a proverbial nutshell, it was about being young and free and having fun while we could. Somewhere inside I knew that there would be time to worry about the important things later.
We have reached later, and I’m not mad about it. There are greater glow-ups to be found within later than I could have ever found in my youth. This year, as of recent years, I’ll be in Boston for a couple of smaller get-togethers, and I wouldn’t want it any other way.
