Who's Counting

I am. Ten years in the Marines. Twelve in the Army. Fifteen at the Social Security Administration. Seven at NASA Ames. Forty-four years with four stops.

Most people change careers once and call it a big deal. I've done it a bunch of times. Now I'm doing something I don't have a name for.

My wife and I just moved to Korea. So this isn't a fifth career — it's whatever comes before you know what the fifth career is. Entrepreneuring, maybe. Feeling around in the dark, more likely.

Here's the part I keep turning over. Each time I start again, I know less than the last time — not more. The military taught me how to lead. SSA taught me how government moves, slow and heavy, how to move things through it anyway, and how to get out of the way of people smarter than me. NASA gave me space (no pun intended!) to do more of the same. But none of this tells me what to do with an open calendar in a country I don't speak the language of yet.

I'm not doing this because I have a plan. I've never really had a plan; more like, I just kind of fell into things and made them work for me.

So call it whatever you want. I'm not counting anymore. That's the point.