The Adventure

Life is an adventure. As I watch my son Jack grow up, I see the stages he is moving through much better than I saw them for myself. Now, I am making the transition to another stage in my own life and I can't help but look back. Some part of each change is the need to let go of the things you are leaving behind. I see Jack letting go of his infancy as he becomes a "boy". He is not a baby anymore. In the same way, I am letting go of being the "man of the house". I am no longer the financial support for our family that is was just five years ago. Likewise, Pam is moving from being a "kid" to becoming a real adult. She has people working for her who are, in many ways, the same as she was when she began her career. Now she is more serious. More focused on the numbers. More like I was, for far too many years.

It's good to let go of some of this crap. For years I worried about "work" and the future. Pam calls it "being on the wheel," chasing the dime, going for the brass ring. My view is that I am moving on to things that are more important. In April, we will have a new baby. My job will be child care for the next two years...and maybe rest of my life. Jack will be in First Grade and I will be home with "Paddy" [Michael Patrick May] every day. I already buy the groceries, cook the food, clean the house, wash the clothes, and take Jack to school. When you stop, as I have done, and think about it, isn't what I am doing more important work than all the P&Ls, gross margins, business meetings, and office politics? I think so. Maybe I am rationalizing these changes. Trying to compensate my ego for the loss of a career or position. Nope.....I'm not.

My life, on the edge of change, is just part of the big adventure. I could not be happier. I don't miss any of the idoits for whom I worked. Stanley Allen stands alone as the only person I ever respected whom I called my boss. All the others, from Bill Hyer to Ned were short sighted dumb ass morons. I had my share of real career success and I am over it. My goal now is to work every day to teach my sons the things I learned growing up. How to build stuff and fix stuff. How to skip a rock across the lake four times. How to pick up a snake and not get bit.

This next stage sure looks like fun. I had the Kaiser health check up and passed all the tests. My face is starting to look ten years younger. I'm going for a walk. I need to build up my stamina. I will have two little Ninjas to fight starting in April, and I need to get myself in shape. The adventure continues.