They also serve

Some people have emailed to ask if I am all right on the grounds that the Milton poem posted a couple of days ago was a little 'bleak'.  I'm fine actually, and funny enough I find the poem quite reassuring, in a period where I am questioning my place in the world during a period of change for the family.  

I think it's hard in the modern world to live a quiet life and feel that it also matters if that makes sense.  In an internet age, it's so easy to see myriad examples of other people leading what appear to be hectic, fulfilled if challenging lives, whereas my own feels more like life in the slow lane with occasional bursts of speed to the fast lane.  But I suppose I quite like it like that.    I used to think that my life would be quite linear, school, college, job, career, meet suitable man, continue career with kids etc.  Except it hasn't worked out like that and at times I find myself wondering whether I am 'wasting' all that time and effort spent studying and gaining a professional qualification.  On balance, I don't really believe that this is the case - all of our experience up to now makes us what we are and we use that knowledge one way or another in our everyday lives.

So although I can't claim to be in the same category as Milton (prematurely blind), my own talents are in use but perhaps in a quieter, less dramatic way, which is why the poem resonated.