Act II: Part II

I can tell you another person who agrees with me that there are second acts in American lives: Anthony Bourdain.

Bourdain freely admits that he spent years of his early life as a drug addict. In Kitchen Confidential (or maybe one of his other books -- I've read most, if not all, of them), he talks about selling his belongings on a blanket on the sidewalk for drug money. As fictional American philosopher Cher Horowitz would say, "It is one thing to spark up a doobie and get laced at parties, but is quite another to be fried all day." Bourdain was in the latter category. But look at him now. He's basically in the third act of his life. He went from junkie, to successful chef, and now he's a talented author and host of an enjoyable travel program. He even quit smoking, got remarried, and had a baby. The third act of his life started in his mid to late 40s, so who knows what Bourdain will be doing in his 60s. Maybe he'll become an astronaut or a merman. (Whatever he does, I'm sure he'll look good doing it. He is sexy. I'm sorry, but it's true.)

I just watched the Washington, D.C. episode of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations. One featured guest, who works at DC Central Kitchen, served 18 years in prison for bank robbery, assault and attempted murder (I believe). He's out now, and he's learned a new trade in the culinary arts, and he has a son I considered kidnapping due to his overwhelming cuteness. I'm sure that while this fellow was cooling his heels in jail, he didn't think to himself, "Hey, I'll bet that one of these days, I'm going to become a respected cook, have a healthy son and be on a cool TV show."

I feel like life is showing me examples of how it's possible to reinvent yourself from one year to the next as well as examples of how opportunities can come along that you could not have predicted.