Bookends

When I started in this industry in 1996, my first boss was named Mickey. It struck me yesterday that here, 13 years later in a job which in many ways represents as great a change as entering this industry, I have a Mickey reporting to me.

When I gave it some thought, I realized that both of them shared a number of seemingly superficial similarities: both names are shortened for another, both smoke, both are hard workers, both are full of common sense, both have a great grasp of the industry, both have an excellent sense of humor.

It's odd to me that to people with similar names should bookend what is seemingly a section of my life (with, of course, smaller but significant subsections within it), a sort of "Volume VIII of XX" or some such thing. I've often reacted to the idea that life can be easily broken down into "phases" or "seasons" - maybe the lives of others but not my own. Some are simple, of course -high school, or college, or even a family (although this one can transverse several others all on its own) - but others are more complex, especially when we live. Career - which career, the one that you started in, the five you did in between, or the "second" career you picked up after you left the first?

There are interweavings as well, as people, places, and relationships flow in and out of these sections. There are people who are relationships in one geographical place, and those who cover multiple places. There are those you know in one career but never translate to another, and those you know that have no relationship to any career but you know a long time.

Life is complex of course, and more complex everyday. It is gracious of God to remind me that, in the end, all the volumes of our lives are written in His hand. And sometimes, we reach the end of one bookshelf - but we always get to start a new one.