March came in like a lion, and as the days roll on by I get
closer to the date (and more importantly) the fact that soon I will be 40 years
old.
40 years old…
It was hard to see at 30
Impossible to fathom at 20
But never the less here I am on the cusp of the big “Four-O”
I readily admit that it gives one pause, but I refuse to
grant it any undue anxiety.
When the subject comes up with my wife (who is considerably
younger than I), the question posed to her is frequently along the lines of;
So how’s he doing with that?
As if turning 40 is an affliction, or maybe that I’m going
to purchase a convertible Corvette in the throes of a full on mid-life
crisis, or perhaps acquire a mistress to remind me of lost vitality…
Whatever…
My mistress is life itself, and there is so much to do from
the mountains to the sea…
There’s something liberating about advancing age that
replaces the need to be cool with the need to be happy, and the realization
that friends will always be friends, and the rest...well it’s simply not that important.
So to those around me who consistently mutter under their
collective breath that “It’s sucks getting old”, or “It’s not as easy as it
used to be”, I offer this retort;
I feel better than ever, I am more driven (to be happy), and healthier then at any other point during my 40 year ride.
Age can be a crutch most certainly.
But it can also be an impetus to drink in life that much
more, a charge to go scare yourself with something new; identify a new bird on
the feeder, try a new recipe, sip a new craft beer.
“Yes, I am a pirate
Two hundred years too late.
The cannons don't thunder there's nothin' to plunder
I'm an over forty victim of fate; arriving too late
Arriving too late”...
-Jimmy Buffet
