The Gardener
When I was in the airport on my way home I saw an old couple. The man looked like Jeff Dean from Google. Long face. He had out a well-loved iPad, and the newest MacBook, I think the new budget-level MacBook Neo which came out just a few days before. I noticed he had a sticker on the back. a red blue yellow green value-map shaped like one of those asymmetrical math fractal patterns. I discretely took a photo and asked Claude about it. it was a weather radar sticker of a supercell thunderstorm hook echo.
A little later I got up and stretched. He noticed that I was wearing my U of R physics sweater. “Rochester, what did you think of it?” We had a conversation about my school, the lilacs and the winters; new york city, time, energy, resources, and wanting a little more space for a garden. He was curious and knowledgeable. We talked about my job and some of the crazy turn-of-events happening in the story of AI and big tech. He and his wife ran a catering company for many years in Long Island. Now they do lawn landscaping. He commented on the job’s immediacy, only a few days until you reap your creation’s rewards. Or rather, he commented on the fact that his Venture Capitalist clients would comment on his job’s immediacy. He told me I should make sure to eat and exercise; it helps with bone density. Better to adapt to the ails of old age.
He brightened up my day. Made me grateful for what I have and how I grew up. And he was aspirational; I’ve always told myself that I still want to be interested about the world when I’m old. I don’t want to lose track of things. Let go of the accelerating wave of the new. And also recognize the things I don’t know. I got hints of that from him as well.
I don’t want to push things too far in my life. I want to be able to garden. To be a competent cook. To gather a broad base of understanding without losing myself to too many unnerving rabbit holes. To be able to talk with happy, inquisitive people. Observant people.
I asked him if his clients are sometimes demanding. Like Erin’s clients can be. He told me his clients were very Type A, precise, and sometimes demanding. They were probably very successful in their careers. They were gardening. Is that who I want to be? Well, maybe the reason they hired him was because they didn’t want to garden. They wanted a gardened place to live in. A perfect, precise, controlled life for themselves.
I would like aspects of that. I want to have a functional place to live. Somewhere that’s been tailor to me and my family. Not necessarily with everything in its right place, but a place that’s being used properly. Without excess or lack of want.
But this man who embodied all these adjectives that I wanted to achieve — the man who made me more appreciative — wasn’t the Type A Venture Capitalist with the perfect, precise, controlled life. He was the gardener.