real reincarnation

The sun was shining brightly as I rode away from home on this cool, crisp morning, off to be me in my current life. It’s a good thing the sun was there to buoy my spirits, my morning got off to a disjointed start that dented my mood and set me on a pessimistic course.  But my current life is good.  Most days it makes me happy and keeps me fulfilled.  So my green Surly bike steered my mood back on track and took me to a lively committee meeting for a non-profit organization that I love.  By the time I left the meeting and rode toward my office, I was feeling lucky to be mentored by the great people on the Friendship Ark Homes board.  Little did I know that an e-mail last night from my major professor of 25 years ago was leading me to a collision with a previous life.  

Carol invited me to a seminar on campus.  An old friend that attended graduate school with me was in town to give the "Ramsey Lecture" at ISU.  We worked in the same lab doing neuroscience in the early 90's.  I defended my dissertation not long after Joel started in the lab and I went off to a postdoctoral position while he finished his degrees.  He is very humble, but a rock star in the science world.  I knew it would be fun to see him so I scurried away from my work at the office and snuck into the back of the lecture hall where he was speaking.  The talk had not started and Joel was sitting near the front scanning the large crowd that turned out for his lecture.  When I caught Joel’s eye he jumped up and said he was happy that someone was attending his seminar who had less hair than him.  He hasn’t changed.  Our friendship was rekindled instantly.  

Joel's talk was terrific.  25 years ago he was one of the smartest guys I ever met and nothing has dimmed.  Joel is brilliant.  

Every day I ponder for at least a moment or two, what my life would be like if I had continued in science.  Today, I got to see what it might have looked like if 20 short years ago I had the guts to stick with science.  Instead, I'm reincarnated, once a scientist, now using science as a businessman.  When people are nearly killed in an accident or their neighbor gets shot to death you hear them on the news say "That hits really close to home."  Like, I never thought that could happen and it reminds me that I'm just one address number away from death.  So can something good hit really close to home?  Like, I was one address number away from something great!  How do I process that?

I would have never touched the heights of science that Joel has reached.  I'm simply not as smart as Joel.  He is a great scientist with a brilliant and prolific career.  For a moment during his seminar today I wanted to be looking into a mirror.  Because in that moment it felt like I was wearing hand-me-down underwear instead of the dignified shorts that were meant for me.  But when I returned to my office and dug into my work, I realized that I like my reincarnated life, and these hand-me-down briefs fit pretty well.