October 5, 2023: Throwback Thursday

I think an awful lot about the past, good and bad. I see in it the keys to the present and the future. I am fascinated by the way in which, looking back, life seems to divide itself into distinct eras. These are characterized by the places I frequented, the people I interacted with, my mental and emotional states at the time. I feel that in real time we slip into and out of these eras unconsciously; they are only apparent looking back. It fascinates me to imagine these beginnings and endings and shifts and changes that are somehow invisible in the moment. The last gathering at that place, the last conversation with that person; at the time we never know it's the last, just as we rarely know ahead of time that the new place, new person, or new idea we are encountering for the first time is going to have such an indelible impact.