"the shock of the twenties is how narrow  that window of experience  really is, and how inevitable it seems both at the time and  afterward. at some point, it is late, too late, and you are  standing on the sidewalk outside somewhere very loud. a wind is  blowing. it's the same cool, restless late-night breeze that blew on trampled  nineteen-twenties lawns, dazed sixties  streets, and anywhere young  people gather. nearby, someone who doesn't smoke is smoking. an attractive  stranger with a lightning  laugh jaywalks between cars  with a friend, making eye contact before scurrying inside. you're far from home. it's  quiet. all at once, you have a thrilling  sense of nowness, of the sheer potential  of a verdant night with all these unmet  people in it. for a long time after that, you think you'll never  lose this life, those dreams. but that  was, as they say, then." -- Nathan Heller's  "Semi Charmed Life: The Twentysomethings are all right"  (the new yorker)