2012-09-21 – Yomim Nora’im, the Days of Awe are the 10 days from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur. Today is day 5 (day 6 at sundown). My last two posts have been reflections on sin and t’shuvah (turning a new leaf). Today I want to reflect on changes in my life.

I love to kvetch, but once in a while something nice happens. Even more rarely, several nice things happen. This past year was like that. My son Cal graduated high school and started college at Grinnell in Iowa. My son Nat graduated culinary school and got a great job at a hot Chicago restaurant. Kit has a new camera and has been taken great pictures. And word has it that she’s been writing something interesting.

My own life has been filled with changes. Several years ago, I realized that Kit and I would soon be empty nesters. I knew I would need a project, so I began writing a novel. This year I finished it. Then last year I decided to take advantage of my company’s educational benefits and began a masters degree program. This year I graduated. And in the wake of my graduation, I got a promotion to a job that lets me put my new skill to great use. That was only a couple of weeks ago.

The transition has been eye opening. Of course I have to pick up the reins of my new job. But I’ve also had to train the successors to my old job (yes, two people to replace me). The new job is daunting, but so far I’ve been doing pretty well. And in training my successors, I’ve been realizing how detailed my old job was and how I was able to make decisions easily that will take newbies a while to learn.

Okay, that’s enough of the awesomeness. I just had to get that out of the way. Don’t worry, it won’t happen again for a long time.