Can I tell you about this one afternoon in the fall of my senior year? Indulge me for just a moment.

I was still the new kid from Pennsylvania, still unsure about Massachusetts and 'wicked' and these new friends I was beginning to make. And then this one afternoon happened. Sarah and Rachel and I had been working in the courtyard during APES (AP Environmental Science) and it was warm but just beginning to be fall so by the end of the day it was pretty cool outside. Sarah was craving pumpkin ice cream from this place next to White Hen Pantry so we hopped in her car and went for some.

Pause, to appreciate the amazing-ness of pumpkin ice cream on an early-fall New England afternoon.

We drove back to the school parking lot to drop Rachel at her car, and Sarah was going to drive me home. We put the top down on her car (a hunger green Cabrio convertible). She put on this song that I'd heard before but never this version, and turned up the volume and sped through the parking lot past the field hockey team practicing and looked at me and smiled. And it was one of those looks that just tells you that everything is going to be good, and this is what life can be like and there's nothing to do but live it. The music was loud and pounded in my chest and the air whipped my hair around and Sarah and I just laughed. That remains one of my favorite moments in my whole life.

I was in DC this past weekend for my 5 year college reunion (pause, to realize how very old I am) and saw Sarah and lots of old friends, and was reminded about the way I used to feel about life. I would really like to get back to that.

Anyway, this was that song: