Today Obama announced the nomination of Elena Kagan for the Supreme Court. The report on National Public Radio gave a brief bio--and I was startled to learn that Kagan is only 50.
"only 50"--not a phrase one hears very often. I'll bet no one is suggesting that Elena Kagan attend "Life After 50" expos or wear a red hat when she lunches with her lady friends.
But then again, she's nominated for the Supreme Court. Geez. She's only 50 and she's nominated for the Supreme Court. I'm facing 50 and I'm nowhere near the Supreme Court, or the historians' version of the Supreme Court. I feel like such a putz.
You'd think I'd be immune to this by now. After all, we now have a president who is younger than I am. I hate that. OK, yes, my doctor is in her 30s, and my dentist looks like one of the frat boys who sit in the back of my classes and watch porn on their laptops, and Hugh's high school teachers--good lord--I swear that his English teacher is also the head cheerleader and senior class president (well within the realm of possibility given the budget cuts). But still. Doctors and teachers can sometimes be young. Presidents, however, are supposed to be old. And Supreme Court Justices are supposed to be even older. Therefore, they cannot be my age or younger. It's logically impossible.
Which is a comfort. If I'm living in a logically impossible world, then maybe it's not my fault that my career trajectory has been, well, pretty much a flat line for the last 15 years. Things don't add up. The "if-then" does not produce the expected conclusion. Life is random. Chance is all. Cool. Because then. . . choices do not have consequences, or they do, but they're entirely unexpected and uncontrollable. Totally cool. I'm going to have another glass of wine now.
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