This year as I reached a significant age milestone I had a “glimmer”. I had faced this event with trepidation - “was I really now old ?”.

After pondering on the event for several days - weeks, I came to the conclusion that I was now free to be myself. I was no longer building my resume! Actually, what it meant was that I could enjoy myself in ways that I had never considered before - I was free to do things that I would have considered trivial in the past but now had some significance. I now give myself time - the most valuable commodity that I have- to do things like read late into the night and awake late in the morning, or watch butterflies in my garden, or take the long way around to work so I could try a new route and see more of my environs - and perhaps stop and talk to a friend.

It’s small but this glimmer also enlightens me about myself in the way that I look at these things.

That’s my bright and shining glimmer.

-Joe Barker