twenty-something

I've had the pleasure of working with one of my best friends for the past six months. Keith, whom I have known for four-and-a-half years now, since he was a freshman and I was a junior, has been my co-worker since August and tomorrow is his last day as such. His temporary position officially ends, and he heads off to Oakland, CA sometime next month for bigger and better things.

Needless to say, tomorrow will be a strange, sad day. Though he's not leaving Vermont quite yet, and though I'll see him a few times before he leaves, it's still a very meaningful occasion. He's done, and I've just realized that I'm going to desperately miss him.

Keith has been a "little brother" of sorts over the years. When I met him, he was just a scared closeted kid and I helped him come out. He heard "It's Raining Men" for the first time in my dorm room and it was all downhill from there. Since then I've seen him grow into a confident gay man and a strong leader. That is -- more or less, certainly less Weathergirls -- what I write about him when he asks for letters of reference, and its what I'll write here because, well, it's the truth. Our friendship has gone various intervals, with times of intense closeness and times of cool, temporary distance, but this is the first time he'll be gone -- not in Vermont, and not coming back. I wish him all the best, but I am totally bummed.

Keith's departure will essentially mark the last of my close college friends to leave Vermont -- an exodus that began en masse when I graduated in 2003. Since then, I've often felt like the last person left here in Burlington and, after tomorrow, that will pretty much be true. Faced with this reality, I'm starting to think that my own desire to leave town isn't based upon a yearning for adventure, but for the sense of friendship, support, and community that's been lacking in my life since graduation. I don't miss college that much, but I do miss having many of my friends close by. And I think that has less to do with being a twenty-something in Vermont, and more to do with being a twenty-something period. All part of that wacky quarter-life crisis...

Best of luck, Keith. May you find friendship, support, and community in California in addition to adventure. You will be missed here in Vermont!