The Impermanence of Things

On Monday, I become a permanent employee. I have a great boss and the group is making a product that is sold in the business. I am jazzed, excited, happy and grateful. Three months of uncertainty in the unemployment line sucking at the teat of the American government that I love and critique is enough to make me worry about my future.

Three years ago, give or take a few months, I started another job. I wondered then how long I would last in the company. But two years of a post-doc and pretty much anything that pays money makes you grateful. Twelve years ago, I began graduate school the same night that tanks rolled into Moscow. I saw five years of graduate school extend into nearly seven years. But I was gratefull because graduate school let me try my hand at being an adult with my family ready to support me in case I failed. Graduate school allowed me to be inquisitive about the world and not have to worry about where I was going to get my food or shelter.

I learned many lessons in these past few years. Perhaps the most important lesson is to take care of myself. To ask myself why I do the things I do. Why worry about things that I have no control over? To enjoy every single day because each day is a gift that will never come back. All this I shared and learned from the SO.