Getting older

I got older this week (Thanks Jessica for pointing this out.) But it has little to do with age.

We don't get old simply because we live longer. Days, weeks, months, years really don't matter. I got old when I moved out of my parents' house. I got old when I stopped being mistaken for a student at Eureka. I got old last year when I fell out of a tree and a month later was back in the hospital for the birth of Atticus (if I was a different person this might have confirmed my immortality but that was determined only by an invitation from someone else.) We get old when events force us to leap from who we were to who we are to who we will be.

Two people who Amanda and I are very close to left this country on Wednesday. They taught us a ton by loving us and putting up with us. They were and are amazing, talented, gifted people who will do great things whereever they are. We continue to be busy with work but now so much of what we do will lack their counsel, insight and passion. We have to grow up.

Their absence will mean that Amanda and I have some growing to do. Atticus will have noone to call him Gizmo. The learning curve will be steep for a while as we grow into the next part of our lives here. Sitting at lunch yesterday, it was clear that two chairs were empty. During a meeting, two voices weren't being heard.

I clearly still have some grieving to do.

My point is that getting old is much more than counting coffee spoons.