Yellow

How much yellow is there on your shelves? Right now, I have about 23cm of yellow on mine. The last time I checked my father had about 2m on his and my grandfather had at least 4m on his when he passed away.

I am referring to the trademark 'Yellow Border' cover of National Geographic Magazine, of course. I have been a subscriber to National Geographic for 38 months, so that is an average of roughly 0,61cm yellow per issue (seen from the back when filed in a bookcase). That means my dad has about 33 years of yellow on his shelf and my grandfather had some 60 years' worth on his. You could probably say that in our family, your 'distance in yellow' serves as pretty accurate measure of the time that has passed since your 'coming of age'. Almost like tree-rings or elephant tusks...

I bring this up because recently a colleague of mine proudly told me that he had taken a subscription on National Geographic as well. I wish him as many hours of enjoyment as I have had reading articles and gawking at photographs in this monument of a magazine. Here's to yellow!