A moment of perspective

Another rejection hit my inbox this morning, and no matter how many I receive, they still get me down. Obviously it's inevitable in this business and a suit of armor is necessary for any aspiring novelist. I'm still working on mine. It's a bit ramshackle. Then something happened that made me feel silly for feeling bad.

On my way back from dropping Henry at daycare, I was trudging through the parking lot, and yeah, I was thinking about the rejection email and feeling sorry for myself. To make matters worse, I had recently listened to a podcast where an author I respect said the usual age to publish a first novel is 33. Both those things had penetrated my ramshackle armor.

Then a stranger approached me as I was unlocking the door to our building. "I'm sorry to bother you," he said. "But may I ask you how old you are?"

The question caught me off guard of course. In addition to being relevant to my thoughts in a Twilight Zone way, you don't get that question much, especially from strangers. The man had emerged from a silver Mercedes parked in one of our reserved spaces, so we shared the building, sure, but I had never spoken to him before. But when I looked more closely, I could see that he meant no harm. He was smiling, obviously aware he had asked a rude question, but his graying beard and youthful face immediately made me feel kindly toward him.

"37," I told him.

He backpedaled a bit. "I noticed that gray at your temples. But I see the youth in your face now." Many friends and coworkers had recovered with far less tact after mistaking me for an older man.

"Thanks," I said.

"And was that your little boy that you were with a moment ago?"

That's when I remembered his silver Mercedes idling in the lot, probably ten minutes before, as I pulled Henry out of the way. "Yes, that's my son." I said smiling.

Big smile in return. "Oh good. That's such a relief. It's so nice to see older parents out there. We're still trying."

Stupidly, I spoke before I thought. "How old are you?"

"44," he said still smiling.

And with that we introduced ourselves and parted ways.