Thank you all for the kind birthday wishes the other day even if they are a tad early. My actual anniversary of entry into this wonderful world comes in about nine days. Nine. Number nine, number nine. Turn me on, dead man.
I've been alluding, for quite awhile mind you, to the fact that I'll be crossing the threshold into middle age come May 6. I don't know what it is about turning 40 that weighs on me so. It's just another number, right? I turned 30 with little or no fanfare. It didn't faze me in the least. I mean, we are long past the "trust no one over 30" days of that generation. There was no trauma; no appealing to the heavens with outstretched arms shouting, "Why?". For some reason, though, 40 seems worlds away from 30. Thankfully, I have no regrets. The paths I've taken have (remarkably?) led to where I am now.
Twenty years ago, had you told me I would be the father of two adorable children and married to a very beautiful and very loving (read: patient. I can be a handful.) woman, I would have taken another hit off the bong and gone back to ranting about how overrated The Doors were and yet, without a touch of irony, extolled how ahead of their time they actually were. When I was 25 I would have said, "That's cool, but please tell me I'm not still living here." When I was 30, before the path diverged once again, I would have had something else in mind. Thankfully, that picture has long been purged. Erase, erase, erase. Five years ago, had you told me the same, I would have replied, "Ok, yeah, seems about right to me. Got anything that's gonna come as a shock? Because that? That's a given."
So, here I am. Sing(ing) a new song. I'm still freaked about the 40 part, though it's tempered by the fact that I think I've done alright to this point. Adorable children? Check. Remarkable wife? Check, check. Friends (both real and cyber-type)? Check and time to get out more.
I think I'll just embrace it. I will not however, go gently into that dark age (my apologies to Dylan. No, not Bob you boob.). For the next nine days, I'm gonna go that way, really fast. If something gets in my way, maybe I'll turn.
April 27, 2007
Friday Fallout: Square Root of When I'm Sixty-Four Edition
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
11 opined:
Isn't it about time someone put you on an ice floe and set you out to sea?
In any case, that's an interesting way of looking back.. and kind of an implicit invitation to look forward. 5 years from now, what will someone be telling you -- beyond the fact that your twins (it won't be a #3, btw: it'll be a 3+4 combo) have staged a coup at their daycare?
I knew someone over 40 once.
My birthday is four days after yours...but I still won't be 40.
40! HA!
Welcome to the club sucka.
For the record.... the Big Dubya is a big old cradle-robber..... I am not or anywhere near 40 :)
Love ya honey
Cradle robber...snicker. Well done, Mrs. Dubya.
Or, should I say, well done MR. Dubya.
I can't imagine where I will be when I'm forty. My kids will be 19 and 20 and well....like I said, it's wayyyyy tooo far away for me to imagine.
But you let me know how it treats you, kay?
40 is the new 25...
It's not that bad - honest; in fact, I feel lots better over 40 than I did in my 30's - physically & mentally. Now 50? That's getting old...
Happy Birthday!
I gave up once I was not part of the 18-34 year old target audience any more.
40.
Wow, just looking at the number frightens me.
But I use to feel the same way about 30 when I was in my 20's. I guess when you turn 40, you'll start feeling the same way about 50. It just never ends, does it?
I've got seven months before my own doomsday sentence. I'll be 40 in December...
30? No biggie. 40? Not cool.
I was thrilled to turn 30 - it's some kind of magic number where you're suddenly taken seriously in the business world.
40 though? Hm.
I've heard that 40 is the new 20. That's what I'm going to hold on to until I get there.
Post a Comment