The First Day of the Next Part

"Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end."

-Seneca

Funny how time rushes past.

On my firm webpage, my bio includes the detail that I was the youngest flight lead in the 27th Tactical Fighter Squadron during Desert Shield/Storm. That was 1990, and I turned 26 less than a month before Iraq invaded Kuwait. Hard to believe they trusted me in that role, looking back on it.

Fast forward thirty-six years.

Yesterday I walked the stage at Madison Square Garden, a newly-minted tax lawyer from the top tax program in the country, NYU School of Law.

A little gray, a little jowly. A lot older than everyone else there. Hell, the dean shaking my hand would be at least a dozen years my junior.

So I reckon I began and ended the run with a bit of age exceptionalism, in the latter case trying not to think about how ridiculous I looked among all those young, mostly Asian kids who walked the stage yesterday. Their optimism, in simply embarking upon and completing this journey in a dark and tumultuous time, is a tonic to this old guy.

Off in a little bit to meet the kids for brunch on Roosevelt Island. Peg's captivated by the place. I'm thinking we'll rent an apartment there at some point later in the year when we're both back on plane making a little money again. Why not? With this sudden surfeit of free time after two years of intense study while practicing law and running two businesses, we might as well be somewhere we like.

Selah.