“For the times they are a-changin’”
(Bob Dylan 1963)
I have previously posted about the extent to which the accident has brought about changes to my physical and mental wellbeing, together with related alterations to my personal circumstances.
As I have repeatedly said, a shift to “Phil v2.0”
As you will have gathered, this has been a regular source of bewilderment, regret and distress. I didn’t want to have been turned in an instant, into a new person.
But...
· am I alone in experiencing change - is personal alterations, all that unusual?
· have I really shifted from Phil v1.0 to fill v2.0?
In both cases – No!
Starting with the first bullet:
Of course, we all experience change, for the better or worse.
Not for the first time here is some recent family news (and in both cases, the alterations are positive!)...
First, my daughter has just had a new baby! There is no doubt at all, that her circumstances have changed.
Welcome Edward (Teddy) Shields...
And here he is, with his mum, aged about 20 minutes:
He is now, just over a month old, and clearly finds his big brother’s company to be somewhat soporific!
And she is not the only one whose life has recently been turned around.
My youngest son has just been elected as president of “Cambridge Footlights”.
For anyone who doesn’t know, this is a very big deal indeed, and he follows in many famous footsteps, including for example, Peter Cook, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Eric Idle, Hugh Laurie, Sue Perkins and David Mitchell. Given his career aspirations of comedic writing and directing; there couldn’t have been a better start!
So, both my daughter’s and son’s circumstances have changed in a big way. It could certainly be said that they are a new version of their former selves.
I am very pleased for them both!
Of course I am different now, but I’m far from alone, in experiencing some life changing alterations.
But with characteristic, negative, cynicism....
“But your children’s lives have moved on positively. The same can’t be said about your own”
True; but we all encounter negative changes from time-to-time. Life for all of us, is rather a series of ups and downs. For most of us, we journey upon a somewhat “rocky road”.
...and anyway, as other posts illustrate, my life changes aren’t always as bad as they might seem to be. In some cases, they are even positive!
A further big change for me is that I have bought a new house and will be moving in the next week.
It is lovely and perfectly situated.
Yes, some bad things have happened, but that isn’t to the exclusion of the good!
So far as the second bullet is concerned; as alluded to, our lives are the subject of near-constant re-invention.
I was Phil v1.0 on the day that I was born, but there have been plenty of life-shaping events/experiences, since then.
I most certainly was no longer Phil v1.0 at the time of the accident. Maybe I could better be described as Phil v1.10 or Phil v1.1000!
The alterations that it brought about, were fundamental, so a shift from v1. To v2., seems appropriate. They didn’t though destroy everything about me, to constitute an absolute re-write.
The expressions “Phil v1.?” And “Phil v2.0” have something on common...
“Phil”
I might have experienced changes, but I’m still Phil, like it or not!
“Ch-ch-changes”
(David Bowie 1971)
