Seven-year Itches

So - there are those who believe that our lives can be viewed in seven-year periods, or sections. I'm not sure I buy into it all-the-way (there are ways to make numbers come out almost any way you want, if you're willing to look hard enough), but as I look back on my life, approaching twoscore and eight, it seems there are some significant events which can be viewed as happening in and around the beginnings/ends of the septadic (?) divisions. Briefly:

Age 7: I don't know - do you remember what you were doing when you were seven?

Age 14: The beginning of my life as a listening musician. This marks the year when I discovered the joy of delving deeply into a recording, dissecting it, and making it a part of me. I spent a LARGE portion of this period listening to music, much of which still resonates with me to this day. I also developed a love of performing and the experience of creating music with others. Mind-altering substances may-or-may-not have been involved; I'm not saying either way.

Age 21: The end of a period of trying-to-become something other than what my nature dictated, and the beginning of a period of trying-to-become what was right for me. The transition revolved around flunking out of college (as a computer science major) and beginning my serious study of music. If substances were involved, they would have been left behind during this period. Mostly.

Age 28: With a Bachelors degree in Voice Performance under my belt, I choose to follow another path towards instrumental music. In the midst of my Masters program I change from vocal music to the string bass. I complete the MM at UMass 18 months later and begin a career in college music teaching.

Age 35: I leave my first teaching job, and start towards the completion of my doctorate (begun in the previous period), but am sidetracked by an opportunity to combine my vocal and instrumental teaching and performing abilities at a unique school in Iowa. I spend time there, leave for a while, and finally return at the end of this period. I also meet my Sweetie, the divine Ms. V.

Age 42: The beginning of the end of my teaching career. I spend the first three years fighting it, but then decide on a move towards something else. I discover Guitar Craft, the substance and sense of which becomes a very important facet of my life. This is where piano technology presents itself to me as an option, a result of an otherwise innocuous conversation with a colleague, and I decide to pursue the craft. A move to Chicago, with a stop along the way to gather up V, and we set up operations in Lake County, home of a surprising number of forest preserves, the best beer selection I've ever been near (except for Dirty John's in Iowa City), and now, A is A Piano Service.

There you have it: I'm at the beginning of the end of my seventh septad (It's a word. I just decided.), and trying to be watchful for signs of the future presenting itself.