Leathered and weathered nowadays

So I continue using my “Charles Atlas business card” which includes a 20-year old photo of me circa 1993.

I was a young buck at age 38 years with a dark moustache when this photo was taken.  There’s a story behind my continuing use of this youthful photo and I share it with anyone willing to listen.

Click here and read the story.

Every now and then I pass out a business card to a stranger who gazes at it in wonderment, probably because of the expectation gap created when they compare the business card photo to what they see when looking at me.

Their wonderment, sometimes with an accompanying drool, makes a great Kodak moment.  I quickly bring them back to a now awareness by telling the Charles Atlas business card story.

Then I have the critics about what I’m doing.  One recent critic was a former co-worker from almost 35 years ago.

He saw my eternally-youthful photo on LinkedIn, the world’s largest internet professional network. and then quickly took it upon himself to send me a private message telling me to get honest and post a real photo of me.

I quickly replied thanking him for doing a good job as a LinkedIn police officer but politely told him to mind his own business.  I also sent him a website link to my Charles Atlas business card story. 

My wife is another one who likes to remind me I need to get honest and use a recent photo rather than my circa 1993 classic.  She also reminds me how I don’t wear a business suit anymore so my business card photo should be of me wearing my casual attire that has become my business uniform du jour nowadays.

No is my quick reply to her pleas.

Finally, a person I know in cyberspace recently send me a message sharing how he saw me and my photo on LinkedIn.  He gave me a compliment of “pretty good photo” or something like that.

I explained to him, as I’ve done with others, that the photo is me 20 years ago and sent him the Charles Atlas business card story. 

While I always blow my trumpet in jest how this middle-aged man sees a 16-year-old kid when looking in a mirror, I privately acknowledge that I’m a little more leathered and weathered nowadays. 

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum