The Same Age We Are Now

I digitized a box of old photographs a few years ago. There is one set of photos of me attending my wife Jenn's graduation from a masters program. She was my girlfriend in those 1993 pictures. I have a shock of dark hair and we look so young. We'd be engaged a year later.

I showed these digitized photos to Jenn. Her mother was in a few of the pictures, and Jenn said "She's probably the same age we are now." That statement really struck me. All of a sudden, I felt like I could see the cycle of life, the edges of the wheel of time. 

Jenn's statement changed my frame of reference. Those old pictures now present another kind of understanding for me. Our parents were "old" in these pictures, but we are now their age. It's an insight that should not have surprised me. Relative time goes in both directions, and it makes me grateful to properly see that now.

Bare Handed Fall

The cold weather and heavy snow made a slippery obstacle course in our parking lot earlier this month. On my way to the car in the morning, I saw a patch of snow that looked walkable. I stepped on it and my foot instantly slipped and I began falling backwards. 

It felt like slow motion. I wore a book bag, but it started moving off my shoulders as I fell backwards. "That was really ice," I remember thinking. My right foot was up in the air, and my left foot soon followed it. My arms and hands started reaching behind me, ready to brace for the fall when I realized: "I'm not wearing my gloves!"

My hands hit the ground first. I was on my back, my book bag next to me. I rolled to my left, slowly stood up and gingerly stepped off the snow/ice. As I brushed away the dirt and snow on my coat and pants, I felt a sharpness in my hands. I looked and my right hand had several small cuts! It hurt a bit too.

I decided to go back inside and get my hand properly treated. Jenn patched up my hand, applying some expired bacitracin and covering my two larger cuts with bandages. Three weeks later, my hand is all healed up. I'm lucky the fall didn't cause any more damage. I think my heavy winter coat helped with that.

From that day though, I made sure to wear my gloves on the way to the car. I also avoided cutting across those snow patches. Taking a fall when you're older can be a big deal so I will be watching my step a little better!

Small number (7) of cuts on my hand

My 2024 Books and Movies

In 2024, I read 24 books (LibraryThing) and watched 48 movies (Letterboxd) (11 were rewatches).

My favorite book: The Age of Innocence. I still have not rewatched the movie, which my memory holds in high esteem, but the book is so evocative of the time (the gilded age of the 1870s) and the feelings. The Countess Elena Olenska and gentleman lawyer Newland Archer are such memorable characters. The book also includes a brief stop in Jersey City, which amazed me to see. Other favorites from last year: The Tetris Effect and American Prometheus.

My favorite movie: Mars Express. Sci-fi animation from France. Robots. Mars. And a hard-nosed detective. It's emotional, complex, and dense. Everything I like in a movie. Highly recommend this beauty. Other notable watches from last year: Flow and All That Jazz.

Some movies I watched from 2024