Looking back on a quick decade

Posted by on Nov 1, 2009 in Blog | One Comment

Just a few weeks ago while browsing the book section at Costco (conveniently, albeit confusingly, located between bulk athletic socks and DVD box sets) I spotted Michael Chabon’s new collection of essays on modern manhood and fatherdom.

Without much thought I dropped “Manhood for Amateurs” into the cart and have spent the last few weeks reading these smart little jewels of humor that are fiery, like shots of whiskey, but that I can seemingly consume without ill effect.

Chabon is as snappy as ever, but this work is intensely personal and it somehow got me thinking about when I first heard of Chabon and heard him speak roughly ten years ago at a Jewish book festival on an otherwise dreary December night in Walnut Creek, Ca. What startled me most was that this had happened nearly a decade ago and how my life had changed in the ensuing years.

Today I find myself passionately married, living in Seattle, working as an art director and caring for a small but affectionate beagle – all this is several apartments, three cities, two roommates, one college degree and many lifetimes away from the 17-year-old who sat rapt at the thought of working as a professional writer. When a decade slips away this quickly I have to wonder where my priorities lie, and ask myself if I have lost track of the person I longed to be.

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1 Comment

  1. Laura Danger Powers
    November 2, 2009

    Figuring out your priorities is really important, but I don't think abandoning the dream of your youth is necessarily a bad thing. All the things you listed changed who you are, almost certainly for the better. If after all that living you realize that the experience of something doesn't live up to the dream, there's no shame in moving on to something else. The larger danger in life is refusing to deviate from the path you've set, even when doing so would be beneficial