Had a close encounter with what you might call real life today...twice actually. First, I met with my friend who's in the financial business to talk about health insurance. He showed me around. He's got a pretty sweet cubicle in a corner, which means on two sides he's got open windows with an 11th story view of the 610 loop, looking northwest. More importantly, this guy has a "real" job; he goes to work every day in a tie, there's a secretary who calls him to let him know clients have arrived, and he's on a career path. Walking out of his office, looking around, I realized that when we speak of the "real" world (outside the hedges as we say (said? shit...) at Rice) in hushed tones with apprehension, awe, excitment, and a little bit of fear, this is what we're referring to. My friend had arrived. I, most certainly, have not. Or maybe I have, but its a completely different post-collegiate world than his, at least for the moment. I'm not exactly sure what I was feeling, or even what I am feeling, I just thought it was a really interesting contrast...a glimpse of "normal" life, which, owing to having a doctor for a father, I really have had very little contact with. I guess seeing my friend at work today (as a client no less) made a world that has been more or less mythical to me until now very much more concrete. It was an interesting experience...
...although not nearly as interesting as what happened later today when I was babysitting my coach's daughter. Maybe "babysitting" isn't the right term, as he was within 100 yards of us the whole time, but he had asked me to look after her while taking care of coaching duties. Suffice to say I was pretty much following her around, and owing to being in a public place, eventually among people who didn't know my coach, his daughter, or me. Suffice to say, people were watching me follow around this two year old kid, and eventually, two of these bystanders, separately and in passing, complimented me on such a beautiful kid. I was taken aback, and had to laugh; they thought she was my daughter. I mentioned it to my coach. He replied that its not all that unbelievable; apparently I look old enough to be a dad. I can't really describe what that felt like either...another glimpse perhaps of a life that I'm not living at the moment, but likely will be living in the future. It was a mix of things, really...pride at recieving a compliment which somehow seemed to simultaneously be an unstated approval of my alleged parenting skills, amusement at the humor of the babysitter being confused for the father, interest that somehow I fit some undefined profile that allowed me to be pegged as her dad. Again, an interesting mix of feelings in the midst of an odd peek of a different path I might have taken.

I've finally gotten my posters up, which means my room is starting to feel more and more like a room and less like a closet. This morning also happened to be absolutely GORGEOUS: low humidity and cool temperatures, in concert with a fantastic sunrise made for one of those mornings where you're just happy to be alive...cliches are really the only thing that can describe such mornings, because I don't know what else to say except that you could almost taste life itself in the air (ironic considering this morning confirmed that fall--the season of life going dormant for winter--is indeed on the way. Only fall could make such a beautiful day in Houston!).

I can't help but wonder how many people are reading this, and if there are any whom I don't know, who somehow stumbled upon it through Facebook or literally by chance on the web. Feel free to leave comments if you like. I'd be curious to see what people think about these missives of mine.