Flipping Omelets as I Grow Oh So Much Smaller

On recent outings with my omelet pan I have surprised myself with my ability to properly flip the combined eggs, milk, prosciutto, and cheddar. Flipping omelets makes them so much prettier when I serve them to my family for breakfast. What I plate no longer looks like a cross between an omelet and an egg scramble. The taste is the same, but the aesthetics are much, much better. 

How I came to be able to do this is through seeing some accurate information embedded in a fictional recounting of Julia Child’s foray into public television. Seeing one of the characters trying to master the omelet flip I suddenly understood what was required. The motion is not unlike jerking a fishing line to set the hook. My wife suggested I finally figured this out and actually executed it because men have inherently stronger wrists because of the unique exercise regimen we begin in our adolescent years.

These days information comes at us from countless directions. True knowledge on the other hand has to be sought out and tested. We all have tools to winnow out true knowledge, ranging from trial-and-error testing to using logic to evaluate what we are looking at. As I glance across the pond, logic seems to be in short supply these days but that is a topic for a different post. 

With the knowledge of omelet flipping now in my mind, I am unsure of whether I will be required to jettison some other fact, technique or memory to keep it in there. There is so much stored up in my brain's engrams that is useless. I mean I can remember in detail lunch conversations from my senior year in high school when I sat with Dave, Kathy, and Barbara. However, I have lost my ability to correctly tie a bow tie.  Most likely I had to give up that skill when I learned exactly how much liquid I could pack in my carry-on luggage.

My age will be 68 in thirty days' time. With each day my awareness of how small I am and how tiny my existence is in the grand scheme of things grows. My brain compared to the universe is minuscule. Attached is a photo from the James Webb telescope. It shows the Helix Nebula which is 700 light years away. The nebula is made up of stars and entire galaxies.

Think about 700 light years for a moment. A light year is 6 trillion miles/9 trillion km. On the mileage side that is a 6 with 12 zeros behind it. A trillion is 1,000 billion. Counting continuously in perfect rhythm, one number per second, without breaks for sleeping, and eating it would take 31 years, 251 days, 6 hours, 50 minutes, 46 seconds to reach a mere billion. I don't have time to count to a billion. In addition, I do not currently have the cognitive capacity left in my brain to be able to comprehend a billion. Yeah, the distance to the Helix Nebula is a lot bigger than the space in my brain.

With time running out on my existence I guess the best thing I can do is try and make sure what is in my head is knowledge that is factual and real. I think it also means admitting what I don’t know and being blunt about it. When one goes to law school one of the core maxims taught is that when you are caught unaware in a courtroom without case law or good facts, you are to stand up, ‘…and make a noise like a lawyer.” Living in these latter years of my life a lawyer's bluster and braggadocio are useless. I think in reality looking for the factual and real is an absolute necessity for a continued meaningful existence.

I guess what I am trying to say is that making peace with the fact that I will never be the smartest person in the room and that I am really just mere filler in the universe is okay.  Having a limited understanding of something is not a sign of weakness, nor is it a sign of weakness to admit that we do not know everything. Instead, it is an opportunity for growth. Such an admission allows us to approach the world with humility and curiosity. Best to keep breathing and look at the world with childlike wonder while occasionally learning some new trick, say flipping omelets.

 Or maybe making biscuits.