An exceptionally odd thing happened for me this week: my work became the subject of others’ work. My work was the subject of a history lesson.

A while back, Robert McGinley Myers interviewed me as a part of a piece he was producing for his show, Phonograph. I knew he was looking into podcast advertising, and had a keen interest on the toaster reviews, but wasn’t 100% sure where this was all going to end up.

I listened to the episode while we had a bit of downtime during a brief spring break trip earlier this week, and it’s excellent. I wasn’t sure how Robert and his co-host Britta were going to weave a story around… podcast ads (!)… but they did. And it’s a really great listen. I can’t recommend enough that you give it try.

I am incredibly proud of the work that I do with Marco and John, as well as Myke. I’m impossibly lucky to be able to do this as a vocation. But it’s a whole new feeling to find ATP as the subject of someone else’s history lesson. I’m not entirely sure what to make of it. I’m flattered, of course, even though I mostly play an accessory role in this particular lesson.

But it also puts a mirror in front of me, reflecting how long I’ve been doing this. Listening to John review toasters feels like it was not that long ago, but in actuality, it was over a decade ago. John started the toaster reviews in February of 2015. Declan was still an infant, and Mikaela wouldn’t be born for almost three more years.

As I sit here now, they’re 11 and 8 years old.

I’ve had to reckon with the passing of time quite a lot recently due to some challenges in my personal life^[1], and this is another example. It makes me proud that my work is worth examination, but also makes me scared: is this a subtle hint that I’m already past my prime? Is my best work already behind me? Ten plus years behind me?

I sure hope not. And I sure hope I get to keep doing this crazy job with three of my best-est friends for a whole lot longer.