Friday, September 15, 2006

The Library of Congress, Reading Glasses and My Mid-Life Crisis

The most flak I've gotten (thus far) on this blog from friends is my reference in the profile to a mid-life crisis. What! You're a lucky guy! Aren't you happy?

Indeed I am happy and yes I'm very lucky, in very many ways. But this doesn't mean you don't view with alarm the number of years in your rearview mirror and the rapid acceleration of the road that lies ahead without some alarm.

This was brought home to me today in a work-related visit to the Library of Congress on Capitol Hill. When I first came to DC, 20 years ago, I thought I wanted to get a job doing issue research. I thought if I were savvy in how to use the Library of Congress it would help my employment prospects. So, in between job interviews I spent a lot of time at the LOC during my own made up research projects. This strategy ultimately paid off and in my first job used my knowledge of the library to help me. But I haven't used the LOC since that first job. Fast forward to today, I'm in the library's periodical reading room. I found what I was looking for...and pulled out my reading glasses so I could read the damn thing.

How'd I go from a fresh faced ambitious kid poking around the Library to a middle aged nearsighted old fart so quickly? It happened in a blink of an eye. And it's the next blink I'll be shuffling around the library using my zimmerframe. And the blink after that I don't want to think about.

Yes, I'm enjoying my life. I just want it to slow down.

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