Horn blowing

I had to do something today that I'm not always so great at. Every year, I have to write a report documenting my accomplishments over the year. The report is used to determine pay raises. We have an odd system in that even though we're required to do one of these things every year, it is only really read by anyone every third year. Yeah. Go figure. But if you want your report read on an 'off' year, if you think something has changed, you can request that it be read. At the urging of a colleague, I made such a request today.

Funny thing was it reminded me of another random aging thought I'd had recently. To myself, and occasionally in confession to my wife and one or two others, I sometimes say that I think it possible that my best work may be ahead of me. Mostly, I can believe that this might be true. But then I imagine myself as some pathetic semi-on-the-brink-of-being-an-actual-aging-man saying something like that and having the youngsters nod in agreement to my face, while behind my back the whippersnappers are smirking slightly and saying 'Sure your best work is ahead of you, pops. Sure it is...."

In a way, Robin, who commented on my last post, is right, this is all just a funny state of mind created largely by popular culture and media, but it still has an interesting feel to it. Perhaps because we've done such a great job of convincing ourselves that the 40s are young, reaching the 50s now feels a bit like falling off a cliff.