My Reflection

I am going to be 40 in 4 months. Milestones lend themselves well as reason for reflection and this impending giant has me looking both forward and back. Sadly, the margins of my life look pretty equidistant from where I stand. So I guess I'd better start planning my mid-life crisis.

The rhythm of a person's life falls into patterns. Like marbles on a shaking table settle into a uniform plain, or like water molecules arrange into crystals as they freeze, our day-to-day routines trend toward simple structure. You probably shampoo your hair the exact same way every time you wash. The food you eat, and when you eat it, likely falls into some narrow constraints regulated by "what you always eat".

As I take stock of my life I have begun to notice the patterns. Like when I stared too long at the flowered wallpaper in my Grandmother's bathroom, eventually the repeat of pattern became very clear and I could no longer see the walls the same way. With the illusion of variation lifted, suddenly the interesting became mundane and predictable.

So too is life. How long can I continue to mark the days of my life in a steady drum beat of "same-old-s**t" day after day? Today is the day things change! Today I embark in a different direction, on a new journey to break free from the rigid ties of monotony! TODAY!

So today I parted my hair on the other side.

I'm not sure I like it.