Wow what a topic,i normally just read a post or 2 in these threads but not here,ive read every last post & what people posted says much to me,the posts show peoples age as well as their economic standing.
Anyhow on to the topic,its strange to me that this topic comes up at this time in my life,im currently going thru a mid-late life crisis brought on by my recent retirement,i spent 35 years in the union commercial & industrial construction industry,i started out as a nobody & ended up being a well known name in the business,if your a union construction worker in Michigan who's job gives him reason to communicate with a GC Superientindent chances are you know me,have worked one of my projects or atleast have heard my name.
I knew i had a serious surgery comming up ( currently recovering) & this surgery seemed different now that im not working so i wanted to visit friends beforehand,i went out to my friends job site to just say hello & be around a site,i was a mentor to this man & he worked as my assistant for years,i was stopped by security who thought i was some old dude wandering around the site & they were in the process of throwing me off the job site when another contractor's foreman recognized me & came over & reamed out the security bozos,he screamed at them " Do you stupid fucks have any idea who this is !! They had the deer in the head lights look so he told em to beat it & leave me the fuck alone,at that exact moment i asked myself the very question this thread asks,i had my visit with my old apprentice & he did his best to honor our previous relationship by saying my visit was perfectly timed because he had a print revision he was stumped with & asked my advise,i knew right off he was just playing to my feelings, i showed him a few basic layout options i knew i taught him 20 years ago,shook his hand & told him how busy i knew he was & left feeling as old as dirt.
I remember early in my carerr when we would all swap funny stories about our mentors who we all knew & over the years the names we kicked around became less relevant to others,until a point where nobody knew the man who was my mentor & he became irrelevant & never spoke of,the story of my life is currently being told at picnick tables on various job sites where over the next 10 years i will start to become unknown,then in a few more years irrelevant.
Ive errected some seriously well known bldgs around the country like the casinos & auto plants where my name is written in grease pen on steel beams,before long future building trades personal who see my mark will be clueless as to who i am, or was.
Hold on to your youth guys cause it leaves you faster than a mother fucker,right now alot of you are trying to build a life but before ya know it things change,next thing ya know your wondering how your family will divide up your things & what things you hold nearest & dearest they will throw in a garbage pile.
These things matter so live the best life you can, while you can,youth truly is wasted on the young & thats the truth.
but its all good 
