There are no there’s there.
There are moments that feel vaguely there-like. But I can count them on one hand that has been flayed by Ramsay Bolton.
Life is what happens instead.
There’s no there, but what there is is pretty good. You just have to notice. Days when I measure What Is Actually Happening against some imaginary There, a Magical Dream-World Where All Doors Open To Me and Children Strew Palm Fronds In My Path—those days tend to go less well than days when I look around at what is actually there and think, hey, not bad, today I saw my friends and family and ate a good sandwich. It’s not the capital-A Adulthood I pictured, but it has a lot going for it.
Alexandra A. Petri ’10, a former Crimson editor, is a writer for the Washington Post and author of the upcoming book "A Field Guide to Awkward Silences."