Think back: To that summer you graduated from high school.

38 years ago? Before any of the events that shaped my adulthood took place?

How are you different from then...or are you the same?

Superficially, I am so different that someone looking at my HS yearbook pic might not recognize it as me -- but that's aging for you, added to an evolution in self-image. I sometimes think it took more than 30 years to grow into my face. Internally, though... At my core, I am the 'same' person, in that there is no discontinuity in the thread of me-ness from then to now.

As for the rest... Nearly seven years ago, I was thrust into a decision: to continue living as I had for (at least) a couple of decades prior, aspiring with only mediocre success to someone else's expectations, or face economic adversity and social isolation in exchange for the liberty of my own goals and dreams. I chose Liberty, and have not regretted it for even the smallest of moments.

Happy? Yes. Content? Very -- especially since moving into my own place last month.

Satisfied? Ah, now... that's tied up with my expectations. Like Art and REB (and, I suspect, like most if not all of us here) I have so many interests and abilities that I am easily distracted, and suffer from Unfinished Project Syndrome. I am determined to finish them! Meanwhile, I have the quarterly 'zines and the day job, which provide benchmarks of the 'job well done' variety and keep me going.

You know, Jody, I think you accidentally omitted a question: "Are you loved?"

I am, very well.