The graduate students at Massey College celebrated Holi Saturday, I took some photographs during the event. The photos are in a Flickr album here.
This is my favourite photo of the group, because I know the people and it captures their playfulness.
Only moments before, the woman reacting to being "ambushed" was posing for a photograph. She noticed the other person sneaking up on her, he lives down the hallway from me. The others in the frame are having fun as well, evident in the other photos.
It was joyful to capture the fun and spirit of the event. Only 55 days remain for me here at Massey College, the last days of this chapter of my life.
I'm of mixed feelings, I'm very much looking forward to returning to my usual pace of work, to my routines, and to my community. Yet, I realize how unique of an experience I'm living - most of us drift into midlife without a clear demarcation point.
On September 1st, the graduate students living in Massey College this academic year gathered in the Common Room for the first time as a group. The returning graduate students providing orientation to the new arrivals, I stood in the back of the room with the other Senior Resident Journalist for the then-coming year.
My thought in the moment was these final eight months would be my last "young" years before firmly entering into the "mid-life" phase of my life.
Today, I enjoyed being part of another special activity. Who knows what tomorrow will bring.
P.S. Saturday was my personal birthday party in Hamilton. A friend gave me a ride back to Toronto, dropping me off at Yorkdale Mall to get the TTC just after midnight. It was a throwback for me, back sixteen years to 2002-04, when I often took the late night ride back to Hamilton from Yorkdale. It's interesting to see how much things change, but other things don't. I had to remember to get off at St. George Station, there was an autopilot moment which almost caused me to continue onto Union in the hopes of the 1:00 a.m. bus back to Hamilton.