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Wednesday, September 27, 2006

The ol' tugging at the ankles

The quarter-life crisis is real. Why isn't it comforting to know that other 25-year-olds are going through the same period of turmoil and confusion? I'm finishing up Mountains Beyond Mountains, the biography of infectious disease specialist and humanitarian Paul Farmer. The book talks incessantly about the conflict between being comfortable in the life you know and taking the chance to do what you know will have real meaning.

Another autumn is fast approaching, which means another season of self-reflection, apple cobbler, stealing pumpkins and permission to listen to very mellow music.

From Mary Oliver's "The Journey"

...But little by little,
As you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world...

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