Timeline

I remember hearing a graduation speech that Steve Jobs made in which he commented that his life added up to a cohesive whole. He remarked that, as he lived through it, his life seemed like discrete events, or dots, on a timeline, but by looking backward, the dots could be connected in a meaningful way.  I am looking backward. It has been thirty-six years since I last lived alone in this house.  When I contemplate the vast landscape of my life over those years, I am amazed.  Thirty-six years ago, I came to live here for the conclusion of my senior year in high school. During those months, I fell in love with a man that brought joy and possibility into my life.  He has been my partner ever since.  He was a defining dot.  I had numerous jobs over the years, but the two most defining jobs were with a leadership training company and a bank.  I learned from the others, but these two jobs were most significant in steering me in a direction that assured the outcomes that proved meaningful in my life.  First, at the training company, I met a man who, before he died, forcefully urged me to honor my gifts as a writer.  It was the first time anyone had defined my writing as a gift.  It was the first time I considered that I had a duty to use it for more than self-expression.  Second, I worked at a bank that granted me the room to grow more self-confident and it provided me with the structural framework and security to start a family.  Gifts all.  

I cherish my role as a mother. I knew I wanted to raise children; I did not fully understand the role they would have in raising me.  They will visit me while I stay here this month, but their lives are now being populated by dots of their own.  I find it suitable to be here, reflecting some on the past, but mostly cogitating on the future.  I remember the young woman who lived here and I celebrate what she has accomplished.  It is both more and less than she dreamt of doing.  More relevant, I consider my future.  There are many paths, all of which will lead me in different directions.  As a result of Steve Jobs’s insight and my own observation, I know with certainty that whatever path I choose will be exactly the right one for me.