Soooo...I am 52. I thought for a while that I was 53 but then I did the math. It was interesting to realize that no single fact could be less meaningless than whether I was 52 or 53. Not to anyone. Certainly not to me. At 52/53 I am BUSY! BIZZY! CRAZY, STUPID BiZeeeee! Get it? I am busy because I am RFP (really Fucking Important). I am:
1. A husband
2. An empty nest father
3. A lawyer which for me means:
a. I have clients who expect me to be available
b. I have employees who expect that I will bring in enough paying clients so they
can eat.
c. I need to bring in enough paying clients so I can eat.
d. I have to take care of a lot of administrivia (i.e. getting bills out to clients,
getting clients to pay bills, making sure we have supplies and helping to deal
with shit when it breaks.
4. I volunteer a lot of time with SLU’s law clinic
5. I blog infrequently and intelligently.
6. I keep in touch with a large number of people younger than myself on Facebook
(nothing creepy about that).
7. I am a home owner. There is stuff to do. Getting things fixed (can't fix them myself),
cleaning up and of course cooking. I have to cook a lot because of specific dietary
needs related to being an asshole.
8. We also have a place in Michigan which requires attention and visiting.
9. My parents are old. They don’t “require” attention but they “merit” attention. More
thanI give.
10. My siblings had children who I like but who might or might not be “damaged” and are
now having children themselves.
11. I was active in my old church, I sense the same will be true of my new church.
12. I read
I say this not to impress anyone. I trust you have busy lives as well. But what I have realized is that… for some period of time… all of these things go on, things get dealt with and many things… thrive, in my absence. This is, in no particular order,
1. Humbling
2. Frightening; and (if you're paying attention)
3. Liberating
I am a bitter, shallow man. I complain...A LOT! My glass, half empty. This is a character flaw. Arguably a DRAMATIC character flaw but if God is kind to you he delivers a modicum of self knowledge along with all the aches and pains and maladies that complainers deal with as they age. My recent dissatisfaction is evidence of how little I have to complain about. That is a two headed complaint.
1. My “career” does not lend itself to enjoying sabbaticals and as I have grown older and realized I might only be ⅔ of the way through my work life, the concept of sabbatical seems eminently sensible. But this plays in with my second complaint;
2. I don’t travel enough, specifically internationally. Every time I have left the country in my life it has been a broadening epiphany giving me a look at the world outside my silo and making more appreciative of our great country, God’s baffling kindness towards me, my family and my country and my home, wife family and… kitchen. Sometimes it can even help to make me more appreciative of my job!
So my New Years Resolution was that for the rest of my life I would leave the country twice a year. My wife and I then spent some time together in Florida visiting her parents and we stretched it out that in 2015 we would take two weeks and go live in another country, towards a goal of moving for one month a year to another country and just taking it in or in the immortal words of Jules in the movie Pulp Fiction we are going to “Walk The Land”.
Jules: I'll just walk the earth.
Vincent: What'cha mean walk the earth?
Jules: You know, walk the earth, meet people... get into adventures. Like Caine from "Kung Fu."
That is good stuff. But my plan I think is to fly the earth, drive the earth, live around people I didn’t grow up with for a while each year and do it with my wife. Sooo… my daughter is in Cambridge this semester and my wife decided I should go visit her so went and met her in Dublin and I decided I would spend a few days wandering around Ireland on my own which led me to Galway for a few days where I am now typing away preparing to fly back to the Lou tomorrow. In my absence it appears things have gone… splendidly. Perhaps I should leave more often and… perhaps I will but the next several posts will be known forever as my own personal “There And Back Again” and if you don’t get that reference, shame on you and Google it, but I think I will call this little series my…”Irish Blatherings”. Round one was yesterday when I put up the Edward Sharpe Concert.
Peace!
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