I’m not sure when it happened or how long it will last – but it’s a very good feeling to realize you are viewed as a trusted, valued, and senior professional by your peers, to know that you have served some purpose greater than your own life.
To look around a group of other highly skilled colleagues in a social gathering and realize that, for many of them, you were their teacher, you were the “expert” that helped give them the tools upon which to build their careers. You taught, nurtured, and protected them at a very vulnerable time when they were gaining their foothold.
You learned how life works by living, learning from your mistakes, and paying attention for 60 years.
And now you are passing it on. And they are listening. What a wonderful responsibility and honor.
Don’t fuck it up…