2022

2022 will be a year of fun and failure for me. My son married a lovely young woman in a stupendous wedding, I got a dog, went to Netherlands, finished the QEP work with a great video, started a podcast, wrote a novel and short stories and started a book, have plenty of money, reconciled an important relationship, made and sustained friends, got and survived COVID, got my old dog back (so I have two), and learned and learned and learned. 

 I have been rejected a lot: novels, Fulbright, job, to review grants, some of the QEP, and from teaching part-time for another institution (my responsibility). I have had reason to question, at 66, my competence, and fear that others do.  Yet I am learning to focus and produce quality. I can lead and write better, and teach much better. 

We must never stop learning, growing, and stretching.  Our brains do not stop making the synaptical connections that mean learning just because we are older.  Learning is not a zero sum game; actually, not much of life is. Zero sum game theory says there is one pie and we just have to cut it up into smaller and smaller pieces, or kick someone who wants the pie out of the party.  Biology, human history, capitalism, creativity, and I believe the Christian faith says, "We can make more pies--plenty more