PARISH VOICES

Every year around this time, I notice a familiar pattern at work. Annual review season shows up, and people start asking the same questions underneath the formal conversations. Things like: Am I doing okay? Am I growing? What's coming next? They aren't really work questions — they're human questions. They show up whenever life shifts, whether we want it to or not. These questions follow us everywhere. They show up in our families, our routines, and our decisions. They show

A few years back, a friend was talking to me and used the phrase, "Middle-aged people like us." It was one of those phrases that made me stop listening to whatever else he was talking about. I looked around and noted that only the two of us were present. I realized with shock that my friend thought that I was middle-aged. I received a second shock when it occurred to me that my friend was right. I suppose another indicator that I am aging happens when I'm around teenagers...