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I better start being more careful. My seventh life is coming up, and I’m counting on the old adage about cats having nine of them. The irony of this progression is in the name I was born with — Lowman. Not kidding. You might say I’ve spent a lifetime trying to live up to the name I acquired through marriage years ago — Wiseman. The learning curve from LOW to WISE has been slow, but “slow and steady” can win some battles. My bliss is bound to be in full blossom when they eventually roll out a blazing cake with 99 candles crammed on top!
My life in stages: another change is in the wind.I didn’t really start thinking for myself until I was deep into adulthood so, generally speaking, you could really divide my life in half — the thinking half and the half before that, doing what was expected. But for fun, and it was more challenging than I expected, I loosely divvied up the years so far: 1) Childhood was spent being an obedient little robot. 2) Teenhood, an obedient bigger robot. 3) Partnerhood saved me with joyess intimacy and nesting but, really, just an older robot. 4) Parenthood meant unparalleled joy… mostly. 5) Independence came from an empty nest and meant putting myself first for the first time. Back to campus and discovering the joys of writing! 6) A giant pause to contemplate possibilities from here on, and the nagging ambition to start a new chapter.
I’m ready for my next life, daarrling!
Categorizing my life like this put the word “change” into a different perspective. It became clear that change is what my life’s been all about, so by now I should expect it. And expecting something has always reduced the stress when something new pops up. One thing is for sure, with the name Wiseman, more wisdom has to be ahead.
The desire to live a more meaningful and pleasurable life is stronger than ever these days, and I like to imagine that having the name Wiseman is propelling me forward. And with only three lives to go, I’d better make the most of them. I do have very big feet so landing on on them shouldn’t be a problem from here on out.
Wow, from Lowman to Wiseman. You married up. Interesting to contemplate the stages of your life and where you go from here. You’ve given more thought than most to the search for a meaningful life, which I think bodes well.
Thanks, Dan. I’m thinking it’s a “been there, done that” thing. Not only do you get wiser because you’ve screwed up so many times, but you get tired of doing the same thing for years on end. I like to think I pay attention, but I didn’t always think this way. Too busy doing what had to be done at the time. Ahh, the luxury of time is one of the glorious perks of aging.