There was a solar eclipse today. Pretty amazing. The country was in a craze to find glasses, or make pinhole telescopes out of cereal boxes. My wife and I made a cereal box telescope. We also used a neighbor's solar eclipse glasses to look at a once in a lifetime eclipse. The sky darkened. There was a cool breeze. Then it was time to return the glasses. We looked through our viewfinder and got the final experience. America sat around and awaited the darkness, all over the country. It has not been the first time darkness has filled the land...but the excitement associated with this moment has surpassed the the darker days of past weeks. Briefly.
I turned 44 today as well. It has not been a birthday I have thought about that much, but seeing as I have not written a word on this blog for over 2 years perhaps it is significant. The album of the year, relevant to me at least if not the world, will likely be Jay-Z's introspective narrative to his wife entitled 4:44. Maybe it is coincidence but the album, the eclipse...me, yeah, this means something. It may just be because I want it to mean something, like I am approaching mid-life if I am not already there and I need a shift. I need a move.
I am sure that a step in a different direction from a career standpoint is the shift that I am hoping for, working towards, imagining to be mine. I have a good life. Really. There are far more joys than anything else in my life. However, I am unsettled. A career, at 44, a career shift or change or upheaval could prove to be the shock my existence needs to force me to breathe deeper. Do more. Dream without boundaries.
