Can I Handle The Seasons of My Life?

Well Stevie Nicks I also have been afraid of changing and now more than ever am I realizing I’m getting older too. Something that really solidified that was not only the fact I am turning 30 this year, but the fact that Stranger Things has come to an end. One last thing we got to hold onto from the glorious and magical Summer of 2016. As we sit here watching a show season after season, watching these now adults play their once child roles, somewhere along the lines we also grew too. 

It has now been a week since the finale aired on New Years Eve so I gave you PLENTY of time to catch up, I’ll keep it vague. The scene with the older kids 18 months later on the roof is what sparked this idea for a blog. Robyn, Jonathan, Steve, and Nancy are on the rooftop of WSQK sharing a beer and catching up on life because everyone but Steve has left town. When Robyn made us all emo saying “there actually is something I miss about this place. I miss this. Just us hanging out, I miss you guys.” That was not only a gut punch, but it was again what sparked this feeling. 

They all plan to meet up once a month at a neutral place, and then they cheer to not let overbearing significant others, school, mortgages, and kids get in their way. The sad part is in reality, that probably won’t happen. Not to be a Debbie Downer, trust me I am always optimistic, but sometimes when we sail through the changing ocean tides life gets in the way. New jobs, new cities, sometimes even new people; but that can never replace the spot in the heart for the old. 

When this show first aired and I was drawn to the tv screen I was just a young dumb 20 year old college kid, so its ending felt like a good time to look back especially since the end of the finale felt so nostalgic. Not only the friends on top of the roof, but the graduation struck a nerve because it has now been 11 years since I graduated high school and 7 years since I graduated college, YUCK. I have done a lot of maturing and growing up these past two years to the point I would not even recognize not only the 20 year old me who first watched Stranger Things but even the me 3 years ago. Sometimes growing up isn’t so bad, it’s the growing old.

Then as if the finale had not made me sob enough, Mike decided to do his damn story teller thing and make me ugly cry just a little bit more. When he says “well it is true, the comfort and happiness part. But happiness can be found in many places,” it kind of hit me like a train. Like I mentioned about the growth, I used to find happiness in different ways and some were not healthy for me or the people around me. Now I can find it in many different ways, and they do not harm me. I have found that there can always be happiness, even on the darkest of days, if I’m just brave enough to keep searching. 

As the kids put their books away one last time (again ugly tears) we are reminded that time is a cruel and inevitable thing. It made me think of this post I saw a while back saying “one day we all played outside for the last time without knowing it was the last time,” same concept. We see them in real time turn their backs on their childhoods excited for their next chapters, but also sad to close the door on this chapter. This creates a sense of nostalgia for the viewer reflecting back on moments that might have felt like this, one chapter ensign and the next beginning. Mike turns one last time and sees his sister and her friends run into the basement to play and he sees a reflection of him and his friends in them, then the door finally closes. 

The amazing thing about feeling nostalgic or reflecting on old times is that it means you had wonderful friends and moments with them. The reality of the older kids(us) probably not getting together every month is unfortunate but we all need to look at it and be thankful our paths even crossed. Like have you ever sat here and thought about how many people there are in this world, now think of the odds of your path and your partner/best friend/other best friend crossing is. I have so many wonderful friends and to think that our paths can still cross to this day is amazing. Sometimes I think we worry a little too much about the next person or the next move, that we don’t take time to really appreciate what we have in front of us. I have best friends that I have had for 20+ years, 15+ years, 10 + years, etc and sometimes I truly sit here and think about how crazy not only the longevity is, but that our paths had even crossed and continued to.  

It can be really sad when something comes to an end but there is beauty in beginnings. Change can be scary but we need to Believe and not be afraid of changing, sometimes we need to stand in the wreckage because happiness can be found in many places.

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