A writer looks at 30

Today, I’m 30.

I’m cool with that. I’m glad to be 30.

My 20’s were good to me, but I won’t miss them.

Back in 1999 I was a junior at Miami University. I watched the Travel Channel religiously and especially enjoyed Alby Mangels’ show Adventure Bound. It was around this time during which I decided I wanted to go places that I actually considered joining the NAVY. I liked boats, liked water, wanted to travel. Why not?

Jimmy Buffett saved me. That’s kind of embarrassing to admit, but it’s true. I had listened to Buffett in the past, but I really started to feel the music. I wanted to escape somewhere tropical, have adventures, and fly by the seat of my pants. The NAVY would be structured and I decided I didn’t want that — thank God. So I entered my 20’s with a “let the winds of life blow me where they may” philosophy.

And blow they did.

20-25% of my 20’s was spent somewhere other than the U.S. If you count, Key West, as another country, which you really should, that number is more like 40%.

Yesterday I got an email from my agent Caren commenting on my milestone birthday:

“Does it feel good to be where you are right now? It must feel great to have your book and have such a great family.”

It does feel good. Even at 26 I wouldn’t have dreamed that I’d be where I am now – wife, baby, mortgage, book. But even these things which seemed so unlikely at the time, seemed much more possible than the one thing absent most of my 20’s – contentment.

At 30, I’m content.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not packing it in by any means. I’m driven to be a great dad, a better husband and son and brother (things that I wasn’t the best at in my 20’s), to continue to explore our world through pursuing stories for magazines, radio programs, and books. As much as my 20’s were defined by “Restlessness and lack of contentment,” I suspect my 30’s will be defined by “Drive.”

Looking to my 4th decade, the path is clear. The winds of life still blow. It’s just that now I don’t wander what direction I want them to take me, what I want to do, and who I want by my side doing it. (To be clear: My restlessness and lack of contentment had nothing to do with Annie. She’s been my girl since I was 18 and my loyalty has never faltered. If anything, she should be given credit for showing me the way to contentment. Her patience in my 20’s is quite possibly the best gift anyone has ever given me.)

So I welcome 30 as I welcome any other day: I know more than I knew yesterday. And each day and decade, I enjoy and appreciate life more.

Reviewed in the Irish Times

Where Am I Wearing? continues to (not) win the hearts and minds of Europeans.

Bridget Hourican, a freelancer for the Irish Times, reviewed WAIW?

Her headline: This guide for the ethical clothes shopper is a bit ragged at the seams

Unlike the FT’s review, hers was thoughtful and seemed to connect with the book. She writes, “Timmerman puts faces on the garment industry. This needs doing and he has the warmth, compassion and interest in other cultures to do it.”

But overall she was hoping for a guide to ethical shopping, and WAIW? is not what she had hoped:

An interest in people is nice but can’t replace interest in textiles. At one factory three men examine his underwear. “They pull them, stretch them, rub the fabric between their fingers, examine seams, hold them up to the light, pretty much everything but smell them.” That’s the kind of obsession Timmerman needs. He should spool exhaustively through yarn, thread count, seams, zips, stone-washing and hemming so that we never look at our T-shirts in the same way again.

For the record, I have no interest in writing a book about thread counts and seams. My garments interest me far less than the people who make them. But I’m excited to have been reviewed in another major European newspaper.

In fact, I had an email this morning from Ireland’s Sean Moncreiff show. I’m going to be on the show tomorrow. More proof, that there’s no such thing as a bad review.

Review in the Dayton City Paper

J.T. Ryder wrote a great review of WAIW? in the Dayton City Paper. In the interest of full disclosure, I contribute a monthly Outdoor column to the paper so: 1) They like my writing. 2) If they called me an ignorant moron, it might not be so good for our working relationship.

(The interview will only be up for a few days, so catch it why you can)

I was the January Travel Writer of the Month over at Vagablogging

Rolf Potts featured me as Travel Writer of the month for January on his website.

I was excited to do the interview because I remember scanning through Rolf’s collection of travel writer interviews when the possibility of writing something that someone would pay me $1 for was a distant dream.

To share the love: If you love a good travel yarn, Rolf’s new collection Marco Polo Didn’t Go There is a lot of fun.

US Chamber of Commerce opposes “Buy American” clause in Stimulus

It seems like a simple and reasonable idea: if the stimulus is going to use tax payer money to rebuild infrastructure why not use American steal?

Senator Sherrod Brown who knows good ideas (and books - he blurbed mine) when he sees one had this to say (from a story in the Columbus Dispatch):

Saying he couldn’t understand why anyone would oppose it, Sen. Sherrod Brown defended a section of the stimulus bill that would require using American steel in all new projects financed by the measure.

With the Senate expected next week to approve its $887 billion version of a bill aimed at sparking the economy, the “Buy American” section is prompting fears of protectionism among U.S. companies and America’s trading partners, such as Canada and Europe.

“It’s pretty clear that American taxpayers want their tax dollars spent on projects where materials are made by Americans,” the Ohio Democrat said in an interview yesterday. “I’ve seen across-the-board support — with the exception of a few economists and a few newspaper publishers — for ‘made in America.’ “

But the United States Chamber of Commerce - the organization that is supposed to support American business thinks it’s a bad idea.

Weird, huh?