Stories Of...Notting Hill

I hate when people ask how old I am.                 
Especially after a night out dancing…
What are you trying to determine? 

I’ve gotten the sense more than once that some equate enthusiasm and energy for naïveté and immaturity. It eats at my worst insecurities. Will they think I lack depth? Not to be taken seriously?

Here’s a manifesto: 

1. To walk the world with a child like zest is a beautiful thing. 
2. To see the weight of the world and not carry it. That takes maturity. 
3. The depths of one’s character cannot be defined by the way they dance on the dance floor. (Some parts of their character, yes.) But not the deep ends. 

Miriam Margolyes once said, “you have to know with whom you have the pleasure of speaking to.” 

You would not behave at a 5 course meal  with your parent’s friends in the same way you’d behave at a sticky floored bar with a group of twenty-something year olds. 
Sure you’re still you, but you modify. It’s called propriety. 

I recently danced and partied with a set of wonderful strangers. However, partying with new friends can be a dangerous thing. Their first impression of you is under the strobe lights at a discotheque. They haven’t had the pleasure to speak with you at a quiet cafe with a tea in hand and exchange childhood stories.

I was sober. I’m always sober, I don’t like to drink or smoke. And yet, I was, and have often been called, the coke of the evening.

How do you have so much energy? They say. We’re getting our energy off of you. That part doesn’t bother me. I usually wear it like a badge—or shall I say bag—of honor. Get it? Bag. Bag of coke. Okay, moving on. 

If only they knew that I was getting my energy off of them. New and kind and open hearted people. 

But sometimes I can start to feel insecure. When I get the sense that my enthusiasm is closing in on me. That it’s all they see. 

A salsa, a samba, and the coke of the evening. 


                                                                                                                                           Stories of Notting Hill 
                                                                                                                          Tuesday, November 23rd, 2021