There used to be four common life phases: childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age. Now, there are at least six: childhood, adolescence, odyssey, adulthood, active retirement and old age. Of the new ones, the least understood is odyssey, the decade of wandering that frequently occurs between adolescence and adulthood.
We have two sons: Alex is 28 and Tommy just turned 22 (Oct 10th). Tommy is definitely going to have many Odyssey years - currently he is a bike messenger in San Francisco and lives on a sailboat. Alex may be running against type. He completed College in 4 years and started working a software Engineer at Adobe right out of college. Of course he has delayed marriage, but there is now a serious girl friend in the mix.
I'm not sure of Brooks' experience, since he writes:
Yet with a little imagination it’s possible even for baby boomers to understand what it’s like to be in the middle of the odyssey years. It’s possible to see that this period of improvisation is a sensible response to modern conditions.
When I was coming of age in the late 60's and 70's there were plenty of baby boomer's committed to an Odyssey life style. (Has he never heard of hippies, woodstock, back-to-the-land movement?). Lynn and I were married right after college but neither of us started a traditional career until our thirties (arguably I was 40 before I had a 'career').
So I guess all-in-all this is nothing new to me.
Here are some pics of Tommy and Alex:
Captian Tommy:
Tommy at the 2007 National Bike Messenger Races in San Francisco (he placed 14th out of 400):
Alex and Beth:
Note: I googled 'The Odyssey Years' and as near as I can tell Brooks may have coined it. There appears to be a fair amount of traffic in on-line forums on the topic so I guess I'm just adding to it.
After I wrote the title I looked this up:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Three_Sons
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