And You May Ask Yourself…

[cathschaffstump]

The Talking Heads have a song called "Once in a Lifetime." Let me time warp you to 1980. I was a mere 15 years old.

And you may ask yourself
How do I work this?
And you may ask yourself
Where is that large automobile?
And you may tell yourself
This is not my beautiful house!
And you may tell yourself
This is not my beautiful wife!

Thirty years later, I'm sitting up at 5:02 a.m. on Martha's Vineyard. My sleeping patterns have been erratic since I got here, subject to the whims of late night writing and socializing, acid reflux, and creative insomnia. They feed us healthily, but if I kept this up, I'm sure I'd cause some sort of major health problem. This has been a glorious week.

David Byrne's song asks the musical question: How did I get here? Many things happen to people around my age. We begin to take stock in what we've done with our life in a way that we theoretically knew we would when we were younger.

I was right about one thing--I am pretty happy with the whole altruistic what I've done for others angle, and I'm happy that teaching has helped me make a contribution. No meaningless life issues here.

If Bryon and I were to have a midlife crisis, it's probably the issue scaffolding our conversations of how we'd like to do something else that's a little more creative and personal. We do a great job with the time and money resources we have in that regard, but I know that if the money were there for us to do something else, we probably would start some sort of new venture. Overall, though, we are happy with how things have turned out. And Boss, if you're reading this, no worries. I plan to retire a teacher, unless the Terry Pratchett tidal wave sweeps me out of the office.

Yet, at those pivotal life changing moments, you find yourself really introspective. Life changing moments. Let me show you them.

Read the rest of this entry »

Mirrored from Writer Tamago.